Taking crime out of drugs 'has merits'
DECRIMINALISING drugs is a valid argument but not a new one, according to Guernsey's director of public health.
DECRIMINALISING drugs is a valid argument but not a new one, according to Guernsey's director of public health.
Former president of the Royal College of Physicians Sir Ian Gilmore said this week that the Government should consider a softer approach to drugs.
He said that the blanket ban had failed to cut crime and had exacerbated health problems such as the spread of HIV from contaminated needles.
Guernsey's director of public health Dr Stephen Bridgman (pictured) met Sir Ian two years ago when he gave a talk on alcohol consumption in the North West.
'His argument to view addiction as a medical rather than a criminal problem had been going on for years,' he said. 'The problem is trying to balance the side-effects of any decision.'
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