Legalizing drugs wouldn't work because legalizing drugs wouldn't work

Last summer Transform Drug Policy Foundation met with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to ask the Government to compare and contrast the impacts of the current prohibition approach to drugs with alternatives, including legal regulation and control.

Gordon Brown has just responded to Transform with a letter, refusing their request. His response includes:

We do not intend to undertake an impact assessment comparing the costs and benefits of different legislative options for domestic drug policy. We see no merit in embarking upon such an undertaking in view of our longstanding position that we do not accept that legalisation and regulation are now, or will be in the future, an acceptable response to the presence of drugs.

Basically, Gordon Brown sees no point in assessing whether alternatives to prohibition would work -- alternatives like the regulated legalisation of alcohol and tobacco -- because he has decided that no alternatives would work. He doesn't need to collect any evidence because he has already made up his mind.

This doesn't come as a massive surprise though. Just a couple months ago the UK government's own drugs adviser lost his job for suggesting that the drug laws should be based on evidence.

Gordon Brown's on one seriously paranoid trip.

[via Transform]