According to a recent report by the UK Drug Policy Commission, "The United Kingdom has the highest level of dependent drug use and among the highest levels of recreational drug use in Europe." (http://www.ukdpc.org.uk/docs/UKDPC%20drug%20policy%20review%20exec%20summary.pdf) with addiction rates in the UK being double those found in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Between 1994 and 2005, there was a 111% increase in the number of drug-related arrests. The UK's drug policy seems to be having no impact. In fact, drugs are now so easy to get hold of that prices are dropping -- for example, heroin prices have fallen frmo £70 per gram in 2000 to £54 per gram in 2005. This may have been affected by the "liberation" of Afghanistan, which allowed the poppy farmers to resume the opium cultivation that the Taliban had previously outlawed.
Even taking into account the re-classification of cannibis, which should (theoretically) have had an impact in the number of recorded offenses, our drug culture is prevelant and prolific with 14 year olds now reported to be using drugs on a daily basis (see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/6566237.stm) and a quarter of people aged 26-30 having tried a Class A drug at least once.
With Blair and Brown's cynical spin-and-stealth system of government, I'm only surprised that they haven't yet legalised drugs. Decriminalising them would be one way of massaging crime figures to make them look better, and if they were legal Brown could tax them....
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