Politicians and public health officials should watch The House I live in by Eugene Jarecki because it makes some interesting points about the war on drugs that could improve the debate about the war on tobacco.
The documentary is very powerful and Jarecki demonstrates the way that ideas can drive political action. Tobacco control is being driven by health concerns, which are no longer controversial. Drug control, Jarecki suggests, was driven by racial concerns. Opium, he suggests, was outlawed so that Chinese labour could be disrupted. Cocaine to crack down on black people. Marijuana, Mexicans.
However, once the public imagination gets hold of the idea that drugs are a threat to their lives and that people who sell drugs are dangerous, then public policy against drugs is driven by a punishment of users rather than treatment. And politicians are afraid to speak against the prevailing wisdom.
When Nixon launched the war on drugs, two thirds of the money the US government spent was on treatment. However, the message that voters liked was about being tough on crime. So the US now jails hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the war on drugs and the film shows it is mad.
David Simon, who wrote the legendary television series The Wire, tells Jarecki: "What drugs haven't destroyed, the war against them has. Thirty years later the money we've spent makes us feel that we're tough on crime but to what end?"
$1 trillion spent, 45 million arrests and drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever.
The war is driven by propaganda. Drug crime has distorted policing.
What local retailers should take from this documentary is an understanding of the incentives for public officials and politicians to promote poor legislation on tobacco that will undermine their livelihoods. At Westminster, politicians have a sense that they will lose votes if they oppose crackdowns on smoking. This is something you should challenge with your MP. Ask them what their view is on plain packaging and start a conversation.
The documentary is very powerful and Jarecki demonstrates the way that ideas can drive political action. Tobacco control is being driven by health concerns, which are no longer controversial. Drug control, Jarecki suggests, was driven by racial concerns. Opium, he suggests, was outlawed so that Chinese labour could be disrupted. Cocaine to crack down on black people. Marijuana, Mexicans.
However, once the public imagination gets hold of the idea that drugs are a threat to their lives and that people who sell drugs are dangerous, then public policy against drugs is driven by a punishment of users rather than treatment. And politicians are afraid to speak against the prevailing wisdom.
When Nixon launched the war on drugs, two thirds of the money the US government spent was on treatment. However, the message that voters liked was about being tough on crime. So the US now jails hundreds of thousands of its citizens in the war on drugs and the film shows it is mad.
David Simon, who wrote the legendary television series The Wire, tells Jarecki: "What drugs haven't destroyed, the war against them has. Thirty years later the money we've spent makes us feel that we're tough on crime but to what end?"
$1 trillion spent, 45 million arrests and drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever.
The war is driven by propaganda. Drug crime has distorted policing.
What local retailers should take from this documentary is an understanding of the incentives for public officials and politicians to promote poor legislation on tobacco that will undermine their livelihoods. At Westminster, politicians have a sense that they will lose votes if they oppose crackdowns on smoking. This is something you should challenge with your MP. Ask them what their view is on plain packaging and start a conversation.
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