Drug related deaths in England and Wales are at an all-time high. According to figures released last month by the Office of National Statistics, there were 4,359 deaths caused by illicit drug poisoning in 2018 - a 17% increase from the previous year. The response from the Home Office was to point the blame at people who use drugs themselves – a hypocritical response considering what we know about the use of illicit substances by UK politicians including our current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
And this weekend a senior member of the government’s drug advisory panel quit over political interference in the appointment of independent experts, after crime minister Victoria Atkins vetoed the appointment of Niamh Eastwood, executive director of Release, who had previously called for a radical new approach to drug policy.
This kind of interference and finger-pointing demonstrates a worrying failure to recognise the role that current UK drug policy has played in the rising number of deaths. These deaths were in fact entirely preventable and occurred as a result of our failing policy – commonly understood as the ‘war on drugs’. This war is a political decision which prioritises punishment over the health and wellbeing of people who use drugs.
