16.10.1997

Labour’s new inquisition

New Labour’s drugs tsar is watching you

Nothing illustrates more clearly the bankruptcy of the ruling class than its ‘drugs policy’. Instead of rationalism and logic we get irrationality and knee-jerk authoritarianism - pathetically, this is the best they can come up with. Yet how our bourgeoisie loves to lecture the rest of the world about ‘civilisation’ and - yes, incredibly enough - ‘tolerance’.

Blair’s approach has been no different to the Tories - if anything, it is even more blinkered and backward. The Great Leader has lectured us about the need for “compassion with a hard edge”, and his minion Jack Straw has played the law and order card for all it is worth. The fact that people say Jack puffed a few times on the evil weed when he was a student ‘radical’ is consigned to history. Drugs - all of them - are ‘evil’, and that is that. 

In this authoritarian climate, Blair finally announced last week who the so-called drugs tsar was going to be. No great surprise about the man appointed. Keith Hellawell, former chief constable of West Yorskshire, had long been touted for the job. Michael Trace, director of the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust, was appointed his sidekick (ie, deputy tsar). You could argue that this is the ‘good cop/bad cop’ strategy. Hellawell holds the stick, Trace the carrot.

Already it is being described as the ‘dream ticket’ - that was certainly the opinion of Paul Cavadino of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders. He described Hellawell as a “forward looking chief constable” and said Trace had a “respected track record.”

Whatever the exact strategy and remit, of the drugs tsar happens to be, the aim is to continue the same old punitive approach - ‘Punish more, think less’, is the current New Labour motto on drugs. Jack Straw, for one, has descended into the intellectual and moral gutter - becoming the voice of pure prejudice. He has made it clear that any educated or informed discourse is way out of order - he is too ‘modern’ for that.

Blair’s drugs tsar is all part of Labour’s growing appetite for social authoritarianism. The Blairites’ zeal for social control and oppressive ‘quick fix’ measures is repellent -particularly so when it is all done in the name of ‘inclusiveness’. Malcontents, anyone who fails to conform or behave like a good wage-slave, must be rehabilitated or punished.

No new money for our drugs tsar of course - New Labour must be financially prudent and remain within Tory spending levels. Still, Hellawell will pick up a nice salary of £102,000. But he deserves every penny. When Noel Gallagher of Oasis correctly suggested that for thousands taking drugs was like having a cup of tea, Hellawell retorted: “It’s totally irresponsible. They don’t realise the consequences that they cause.” Now there is a man on the ball - really with it.

Despite the vigorous and sustained campaign of The Independent to decriminalise cannabis - though for it so-called hard drugs are still a strict ‘no, no’ - it would be a mistake to think that such an outcome is inevitable. Yes, there is a trend to decriminalisation. But there is alsoa powerful trend towards ‘re-criminalisation’. Blair and Straw’s authoritarian social instincts pull them in that direction.

The Guardian is very enthusiastic about the ‘dream ticket’ - describing it as the “right approach to the problem”. It also tries to reassure us that the tsar’s policies will not end in the catastrophe, as in the USA. Apparently, the “new team is too experienced to make such a mistake” (October 15).

We all know that the ‘just say no/slippery slope’ message is doomed to failure - by refusing to engage with reality, it just ends up insulting our intelligence. ‘One puff and you are on the certain path to heroin addiction’ proclaim the New Labour moralists. ‘Pull the other one’ is the perfectly reasonable response - especially from the youth.

Paul Flynn has been one of the few Labour MPs to dare speak the truth on drugs. As he told the House of Commons,

“There is as much truth in what we are telling young people about drugs as in the myths we and previous generations were told about masturbation and blindness, and stories about the tooth fairy and Father Christmas. We are lying and we are not doing any good in reducing the amount of drugs they take.”

The drugs tsar - and his deputy - will prove to be yet another resounding failure. Society should not be scared of drugs, waving them around like a crucifix in front of a vampire. There is no reason why cannabis use could not become a perfectly normal aspect of society - as is the case with alcohol. What goes for cannabis can apply to ‘hard’ drugs.

Drug addiction, like alcohol addiction, can destroy individuals. Nobody disputes that. But only the complete legalisation of all drugs can ensure that we develop full knowledge of their dangers and benefits. Only in this way can we end the hypocrisy that sees workers criminalised for what is a common recreational activity amongst all sections of society. To leave the status quo as it is - or to arrest more and more users - is a recipe for continued inhumanity.

Paul Greenaway