Objectives neither clear nor candid
The current drug strategy’s objectives are not clearly or candidly stated, and this can be counterproductive.
The two objectives – total abstinence and harm reduction - are jumbled together.
"One way of avoiding becoming a problem drug user is obviously not to become a drug user at all. Another is to use drugs but in ways that avoid problems and minimise risks. It is not clear which form of prevention is being advocated by the Home Office, and the ambiguity may be partly intentional.
However committed health agencies may be to minimizing the health damage that may result from drug use, the National Drug Strategy is driven from the Home Office and is presented primarily as a strategy for reducing crime. Crime cannot appear to be condoned in any form; therefore, drug use should not appear to be condoned.
It follows that, while many of those who implement the current drug strategy may in fact be working hard to help people who use drugs to use them more safely, they must not be seen to be doing so too overtly.
...Ministers should acknowledge publicly that they are indeed doing what they are doing already: that is, both trying to discourage people from using drugs at all and encouraging those who do insist on using drugs to use them sensibly. Such an approach seems to us more honest and more likely to succeed."