Legalise drugs? – An urgent question
In the September issue of Working Notes, Peter McVerry SJ puts three questions, and suggests answers. 1. Do you believe that Ireland will ever again become free of illegal drugs? His considered answer is No: Almost every country in the world, including those that execute drug dealers, has a drug problem. 2. If drugs are here to stay, who should control their supply? Obviously not the twenty or so violent criminal gangs who control them here at present. 3. Then who should control them? That, he writes, is a question we continue to avoid. Peter summarises the arguments and factors that should inform the debate: the comparison with alcohol and with methodone; the report of the Global Commission on drug policy; the distinct questions of control of supply and control of demand for illegal drugs. This calm, well-informed article makes uncomfortable reading.