Transform submission to Home Affairs Select Committee on the cocaine trade - Criminalisation creates the problems

In May 2009, the Home Affairs Select Committee on the cocaine trade announced their intention to investigate the trends in cocaine use in the UK, and progress in tackling the cocaine trade, in terms of reducing both supply and demand in the UK.

Several IDPC members submitted memorandums to the Home Affairs Select Committee on this issue.

Transform's submission highlights that numerous reports have shown that the criminalisation of drugs including cocaine largely creates the ‘drug problem’, yet there is collective denial in Government and beyond which protects the policy of prohibition from scrutiny, at the expense of protecting the public. This submission will demonstrate how the criminalisation of cocaine is at the root of many of the issues with which HASC is grappling in this inquiry.