
Young people's views on drugs and the law
The difference between legalisation and decriminalisation
It is important to understand the difference between ‘decriminalisation’ and ‘legalisation’ of drugs.
‘Legalisation’ means that drugs would be completely legal with some controls in place.
‘Decriminalisation’ would mean that it would no longer be a crime for a person to have drugs in their possession but they may be fined or given some sort of small penalty.
The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 sets out the laws in the UK around possessing and selling illegal drugs. The Act of 1971 says that not all drugs are equally dangerous, so are categorised into three classes of risk; A, B and C. Class A drugs such as heroin, cocaine and ecstasy bring the most severe penalties. Other psychoactive substances not covered by the MIsuse of Drugs Act fall under the Psychoactive Sustances Act 2016.
Arguments against legalising or decriminalising drugs
Some young people were against changing the laws on drugs. Tara and Leah said ‘drugs are illegal for a reason’. They consider all drugs to be dangerous and said that they can lead to mental health problems or other issues.
The main argument against legalisation was the risk to health associated with drug use. Some young people argued that illegal drugs are worse for a person’s health than alcohol. Several people, like Craig thought that cannabis would lead on to other drugs (a ‘gateway’ drug) but others disagreed with this.
- Age at interview:
- 20
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Tara lives with her young son and she is taking the City & Guilds qualifications in Maths and English, at her local Platform 51. She has also done a parenting skills course. Tara got a few GSCEs but thinks she could have done a lot better had it not been for cannabis and a bad boyfriend.
- Age at interview:
- 17
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Emily goes to college full-time and lives at home with her mum, dad and two siblings. White British.
Yeah. I think still smoking there’s a lot of things about smoking that’s like they could kill you and stuff and I think that’s seen a lot more than drinking because like more people drink than they do smoke. Like just about nearly everybody will have a drink at weekend or at special occasions they’ll have a drink. So I think smoking and drugs are seen differently to alcohol.
A few people were in favour of drugs being decriminalised or legalised but regulated by the Government. They argued that, if drugs were legal, the Government could regulate the purity of drugs to make them safer and charge tax on them like they do with alcohol and cigarettes. They also thought that legalising drugs would make it easier for people to get help for addiction problems. They felt that drugs are often talked about drugs as a moral (‘right’ or ‘wrong’) issue but it would be more helpful to see them as a health issue.
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- University student, taking a year off and working as a volunteer with a student drug reform organisation called Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
I believe the social harms of keeping drugs illegal outweigh the social good of trying to stop people taking them. So you should make them controlled and regulated. Have very strict controls on advertising. Have very strict controls on where you can sell them, who you can sell them to. You’d want to give it to local city councils for example so as to control the licensing like you do with the Licensing Act for alcohol. And then you’d have a system where drug users can get the drugs that they want without necessarily having to go through all the criminality, the impurity, and to be honest that’s where a lot of the risk is. You also cut out a large proportion gangs. Gangs grew up in the UK because of drug dealing.
There are areas in loads of cities that turned bad because of large-scale drug dealing and that’s where a lot of gangs came from in the UK.
If you legalised the system, you get rid of a lot of incentives to deal drugs – you cut out a lot of the profit. And that would remove the motive for a lot of crime. Most of the problems with drug use have only occurred since drug use became illegal, 40 years ago.
So I very much I consider the social harms outweigh the social benefits of keeping them illegal.
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- University student, taking a year off and working as a volunteer with a student drug reform organisation called Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
I’m concerned with health issues but not as much as I think the government are. Because there just, there isn’t a huge amount of research and the government. I mean the government’s position is untenable. People get fired for essentially saying the government is wrong. And when you’re firing people who are scientific advisors like Professor Nutt – then you’re not dealing with the facts or the science or the health implications. Instead, you’re basing policy on the fact that most people think drugs are bad, and that’s a moral issue. That’s not a health issue.
The health issues with drugs are important. But to put them in perspective, the biggest health issue is alcohol. For government so spend so much energy using the power of force against drug user and dealers is ridiculous when they do pretty much nothing about alcohol. It shows you that the government is not taking a principled stance, but a convenient one.
Drugs get demonised more than alcohol probably because the alcohol industry has a lot of money, a lot of lobbyists and a lot of clout. Drug dealers might have money but they don’t get to influence politics.
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Daniel, university graduate, is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and is on the 12 Step Programme. He says that he hasn't tried anything stronger than a cigarette or a cup of coffee since January 2006.
Legalise it. I think they should completely legalise it and then maybe people would realise just what a stupid waste of time it is.
Some talked about whether drugs were more appealing because they’re illegal.
- Age at interview:
- 22
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Craig lives with mum and dad and works part-time in a newsagent. Ethnic background: White British.
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- University student, taking a year off and working as a volunteer with a student drug reform organisation called Students for Sensible Drug Policy.
Also, I have become much more aware of the ethical issues with drugs as of late.
Meaning?
Well cocaine is produced in South America, Latin America and people. Like it’s basically it’s the subject of a massive war. Many, many people get killed along the way of making a gram of cocaine. Like there’s serious deforestations for every few grams of cocaine there is a certain amount of deforestation that takes place to grow the crop. You’re buying into. All the money you pay is going towards serious organised crime. There is no cocaine sold by “nice people”. It’s all run by massive crime networks who do people trafficking. I don’t want to put money into that.
I’m not interested in funding killing people which is exactly what you do if you buy cocaine. And that’s another reason why I haven’t really gone near it since I had, I bought a few times just to see what it was like but I’m not interested in taking it anywhere regularly because it’s so linked to massive military campaigns.
Other drugs have these issues too but maybe not so much. Cannabis does have some issues around trafficking. More cannabis is grown in the UK now, which is good, but there’s still human rights issues. Some cannabis farms make use of trafficked people working for low wages or kept as slave labour. Legalising and regulating cannabis production would remove the market for that, too.
Ecstasy as well, most of the ecstasy in the UK comes from the Netherlands. It’s mostly produced in mainland Europe or in labs in the UK and there’s not that many drug mules involves in the shipping process.
And so the ethical issue is another reason why I take the drugs that I do rather than cocaine.
Several were undecided about the legalisation of drugs. They agreed that legalisation would mean better control over what goes into drugs, making them less risky, and take away power from drug gangs. But on the other hand, they were worried about the negative impact of drugs, for example on mental health.
- Age at interview:
- 20
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Chloe works with young people with complex and special educational needs. She lives at home with her mother and younger sister. Ethnic background: mixed other.
- Age at interview:
- 28
- Sex:
- Male
- Background:
- Sam lives with his partner and their child. He is a part- time youth worker and has just started university. Ethnic background: White British.
But then again selling drugs, you know, if they made acid legal to try once or twice, you know, some people. But some people could go off the deep end on that you know. So like I said, drugs affect different people differently. So I, it would depend on how they were going to police it and to be honest they would never police it. Look at mephedrone that’s a new one isn’t it. Was legal, started to make it illegal now, but people are still buying it and getting it now, you know. When it was legal loads of people were abusing it and now it’s illegal people are still abusing it. So what difference does it make? Do you know what I mean? It’s just although the government would be better off from a tax perspective if they start taxing drugs. It’s like alcohol though, you know, really they should reduce the sales of alcohol actively but they don’t because of the massive amount of tax they’ve got on it. So do we really want them in the same situation with drugs. You know, we’re making a lot of money off drugs so. I don’t know. Sorry it’s a confusing subject for me. I sort of feel, you know, betraying my friends who completely disagree with me like, you know what I mean. And then my new self is sort of saying, you know, you should ban it. But then really [sigh] I wouldn’t know. I don’t know.
- Age at interview:
- 23
- Sex:
- Female
- Background:
- Stephanie has a partner and goes to college part time. Shewants to get a qualification in counselling. She thinks that many people drink for the 'wrong' reasons like getting over a breaking up, or trying to forget a problem. Ethnic background: White British
Last reviewed July 2018.
Last updated: July 2018.