Drug classification

As part of its drug law review, the Law Commission has recommended an overhaul of our Government’s drug classification body – the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs. Internationally, these independent advisory bodies play an important role by injecting scientific expertise into the often fraught politics of drug policy.

Jeremy Sare details how Britain’s drugs advisory body, the ACMD, has been systematically undermined by petty politics.

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The Drug Foundation has published its submission to the Law Commission's issues paper - "Controlling and Regulating Drugs" - on the reform of New Zealand’s drug laws.

Our comments on this report are influenced by our guiding principles, including a commitment to evidence-based best practice and policy, and harm minimisation. Information about the Drug Foundation is appended to this submission.

In politics, it’s often said, if you’re explaining, you’re losing. This was the unnecessary position Prime Minister John Key found himself in following the launch of the government’s new methamphetamine action plan.

In January 2004 the UK downgraded cannabis from Class B to Class C, which meant lower penalties and fewer arrests for possession. In January 2009 that decision was reversed, even though scientific advice had not changed significantly and cannabis consumption was falling.

The New Zealand Drug Harm Index, published in June, was developed by Business and Economic Research Limited as a tool for the Police to assess and quantify social harms resulting from illicit drug use. Alison Ritter offers a review of the index and suggests it remains useful despite some significant flaws.

The debate in the UK over cannabis reclassification from B to C made the classification debate headline news, while a damning inquiry report by the Science and Technology Select Committee, combined with the The Lancet paper on drug harm rankings, have given the ABC system some long-overdue high-level scrutiny. However, the problem runs much deeper than whether certain drugs are misclassified. Steve Rolles.

Drug scheduling is the process of sorting controlled substances into categories, generally with the purpose of assigning higher levels of control over those drugs viewed as most hazardous. This implies a process of weighing the respective dangers and benefits of each drug, an undertaking of considerable complexity. As with many controversial topics, members of the public, and especially specialised academics, may feel that their opinions are not given enough credit. This is particularly true for popular drugs with vocal supporters, such as cannabis. Ted Leggett.

This submission sets out what we believe can reasonably be concluded from current evidence about BZP and its harms, then analyses the potential impacts of the Bill. In developing this submission, we have consulted with a number of people and organisations within the alcohol and drug sector. We have also reviewed research findings on BZP. Our comments are influenced by the Drug Foundation’s guiding principles, including evidence based best practice and policy, and harm minimisation.