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Drug Classification System

My Lords, are those noble Lords claiming that they have never been at a party where a joint has been passed round? Either they have lived in a very sheltered world—an ivory tower—or they really do not know what has been going on around them, in which case I am very worried about their powers of observation. For every one or two of those noble Lords, I could produce friends who probably do. However, I have noticed that my friends have largely grown out of these things. I have not noticed joints being passed round for a long time. Behaviour is never irretrievable. People grow up and they grow out of things. We need to be aware of that. So we sometimes go overboard about these matters. The taking of drugs needs to be treated not so much as a criminal problem as a medical problem. Another problem is that we are becoming increasingly obsessed with safety. One cannot take risks; all risk is removed. One cannot indulge in anything that is dangerous or might hurt. One cannot climb trees; one cannot do contact sports; one cannot do anything. What is happening to the risk-takers? If one is by nature a risk-taker who enjoys an adrenaline rush, one is either going out to do very silly, dangerous things or one is going to kill the impulse with some drug which blankets one’s natural metabolism. We have to bring some risk-taking back into life and accept that some people will be injured doing silly things like I used to, such as climbing cliffs, jumping out of aeroplanes and climbing mountains with the wrong kit. For the greater good, maybe we should go down that route. Otherwise there will be some very bored people who will turn to things like drugs to ease the pain of not being allowed to do anything with their lives. Their playing fields are being sold, there is nowhere for them to go and nothing for them to do. You have to look at that side. If we are going to control and decriminalise drugs to an extent, how should we do it? Some of it can be done through GPs; some of it, if it is considered less harmful, can be done through controlled doses. We have huge experience, through alcohol and tobacco suppliers, of controlling drugs. They do not always get it right, but in general we have a very good means of control. I think we need to look at this more in those terms, rather than trying to lock a whole lot of people up for what is basically a mental problem.