Top Secret UK Report Supporting Drug Possession Surfaces, Gov Won't Release It, Advocates Call Foul

The British Home Office recently won a battle to suppress a report from its own expert adviser who had recommended decriminalizing the possession of drugs, including cannabis. 

What Happened: A tribunal concluded that a document by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs should be kept secret, a decision that followed a three-year freedom of information battle to force the government to release the report, the only one in the council’s history not to be published. 

Why All The Secrecy? The Home Office, which is responsible for immigration, security, and law and order, argued that because policies discussed in the paper were under consideration, it was not compelled by freedom of information laws to make it public.

Whistle Blower

The content of the report only came to light because a former member of the council blew the whistle.

Prof. Alex Stevens submitted evidence last year to a home affairs committee that the document recommended drug decriminalization. He explained that the report, which was written in 2016 and that he helped write, suggested “repealing the part of the Misuse of Drugs Act that makes it a criminal offense to possess controlled drugs.”

The move would have aligned it with the Psychoactive Substances Act, which does not “criminalize possession outside custodial settings.” In 2019, Stevens quit the advisory council after claiming that candidates were being vetted based on their political and drug policy views. 

Now, speaking for the first time about the issue, Stevens said: “This all raises the question of whether the council is an independent public body there to create independent and transparent advice or if it is a creature there to serve the whims of the Home Office. It’s possible that if drug possession had been decriminalized, then it would have been easier to provide the sort of treatment that saves people’s lives,” reported UK’s The Times. 

Last month, parliament members questioned Chris Philp, the minister for policing, over the report but he refused to discuss the document or share it. 

Incompatible With Freedom Of Information Principles

Maurice Frankel, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said that the more controversial a policy is, the stronger the arguments for keeping policy discussions confidential was “incompatible with the principles” of the Freedom of Information Act. 

Crispin Blunt, co-chair of an all-party drug policy reform group says successive British governments have not wanted drug policy based on evidence.

“We are dealing with a decades-long strategic failure,” Blunt said.

Photo: Benzinga edit of Kindel Media and Pixabay on Pexels