drugs – Page 2 – Ian Birrell

Cannabis failures show why we need to legalise drugs

Published by The Times (10th September, 2020) Carly Barton is a former university lecturer who suffered a stroke at the age of 24. It left her feeling as […]

Mexico’s futile war on drugs

Published by UnHerd (16th March, 2020) The early morning raids were carefully calibrated. Teams of heavily-armed agents donned protective gear in the darkness, then struck at homes in […]

Drugs / Mexico / Policy / World

How many people were kidnapped, tortured and murdered for your avocado?

Published by The Mail on Sunday (23rd February, 2020) Sergio was working in the avocado orchards when two men suddenly appeared and told him to accompany them to […]

Drugs / Policy / United States / World

A progressive cesspit

Published by The Mail on Sunday (2nd February, 2020) Gilles Desaulniers moved to San Francisco 40 years ago, settling in the ‘friendly, quaint and affordable’ city after running […]

Drugs / Economics / Health / Policy

What’s the difference between drugs and gambling?

Published by The i paper (27 January, 2020) Lewis Keogh seemed to have everything. He had a good job, his own flat in Leeds, a loving family and […]

Drugs / Health / Policy / United States / World

2017: when the US woke up to deaths from despair

Published by UnHerd (26th December, 2019) In the summer of 2017, I found myself in Dayton, Ohio. This friendly and rather nondescript city is famed worldwide as home […]

Drugs / Policy

Misguided morality is denying help to drug addicts

Published by The Times (2nd September, 2019) Iain Duncan Smith has been highlighting the horrors of addiction. The former Tory leader pointed out that ten times more people […]

Drugs / Policy

The double standards on drugs

Published by The i paper (10th June, 2019) Earlier this year the life of a science teacher in Peterborough was devastated after he was struck off from his […]

Drugs / Policy

Theresa May’s tacit support for drug reform

Published by The ipaper (17th December, 2018) Theresa May has a lot on her plate at the moment, despite surviving last week’s attempted coup by her party’s right-wing […]

Crime / Drugs / Policy

Britain’s police are waking up to the futility of the war on drugs

Published by CapX (23rd October, 2018) Few people would have expected Bernard Hogan-Howe to become the nation’s latest outspoken campaigner for review of our drug laws. Yet this […]

Drugs / Policy

Is it time to legalise cannabis, asks former Met chief?

Published by The Mail on Sunday (21st October, 2018) Former Scotland Yard chief Bernard Hogan-Howe has called on the Government to set up an urgent review to examine […]

Drugs / Policy

When will politicians realise that the war on drugs has been lost?

Published by The Evening Standard (9th August, 2018) Last year I went on patrol in Dayton, Ohio, with an affable police officer called Andy Teague, who told me […]