Government Social Research
31 July 2006: Commons Science and Technology Committee (STC) publishes Drug classification: making a hash of it? (HC 1031) which addresses the relationship between scientific advice and evidence and the classification of illegal drugs. It says that the government's approach to drug education and treatment must be informed by scientific advice.
The report expresses concern at the government's use of the classification system as a means of 'sending out signals' to potential users and society at large; this is at odds with the stated objective of classifying drugs on the basis of harm and the Government has not made any attempt to develop an evidence base on which to draw in determining the 'signal' being sent out.
The report finds no convincing evidence for the deterrent effect, which is widely seen as underpinning the government's classification policy, and criticises the government for failing to meet its commitments to evidence based policy making in this area. More generally, the weakness of the evidence base on addiction and drug abuse is a severe hindrance to effective policy making and the report urges the Government to increase significantly its investment in research.