Parents Against
Lethal Addictive Drugs (PALAD) is a national
voluntary organisation, based in North Wales,
campaigning for improved drug policies. We began
as an informal group of parents concerned about
the drug problems faced by our children today. We
were shocked by the government's Home Affairs
Select Committee report Government Drugs
Policy: Is it Working? when it stated that
"Legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohol,
are responsible for far greater damage both to
individual health and to the social fabric in
general than illegal ones". Could this
really be true? If it is then surely this can
only be the case because there are so many more
people taking the legal drugs than the illegal
ones? We decided to examine all recent government
reports to find out what was really going on.
The evidence
from government reports has forced us to make a
U-turn in our own thinking about drug dangers. We
had to overcome our own prejudice before we could
accept the evidence. There can no longer be any
doubt that tobacco is the most dangerous drug
both in terms of addictiveness and likelihood of
causing death. 80% of tobacco smokers start
before the age of 16 and 50% of all tobacco
addicts will be killed by their addiction. Even
passive smoking kills as many as heroin. Alcohol
is also more dangerous than the illegal drugs.
Many of the dangers of illegal drugs really do
seem to stem from the fact that they are illegal
and so unregulated, with no consumer protection
(quality/quantity control, health warnings etc).
Reluctant though we were initially we now accept
that cannabis should be legalised. Cannabis
stands out as considerably safer than other
recreational drugs by any standard, especially if
taken without smoking. The Advisory Council on
the Misuse of Drugs, whose legal duty is to
advise Government about drug dangers, says
"the high use of cannabis is not associated
with major health problems for the individual or
society."
PALAD believes
that anyone examining the government's evidence
will conclude that our drug laws do not encourage
the use of the safest drugs while discouraging
the use of the most dangerous. Legal drugs are
clearly just as dangerous as illegal ones. So
what do we tell our children now when they ask
"why are some drugs illegal?" ?
If you are
concerned about the drugs problem but worried by
cannabis then we urge you to check the online
government documents yourself and find out the
truth. As our children receive better drug
education these days you can be sure that the
truth will find them.
We support North
Wales police Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom's
view that illegal drugs should be properly
regulated as legal drugs are.