Current issue around drug abuse in the UK

In the UK, illegal drug use has become a serious social problem. The amount of death related to drug abuse in England and Wales was 3,744, increased by 44% in these four years.

International Business Times: Cocaine deaths hit record high in UK

Among them, cocaine is focused because users are rapidly increasing. Opioids abusers also have become familiar. The cases by new psychoactive substances were slightly increased.

There are mainly two ways to solve this problem. The first is to extinguish the route of acquiring drugs. Strict investigation at the border and harsh punishment to dealers are included. Considering that the UK is surrounded by the sea, shattering the entrance will be effective as well as Japan.

The second is harm reduction. Most drug abusers are suffering from dependency. They feel difficult to withdraw from their current life with drugs. Offering proper treatment, instead of punishment, will protect them from a recurrence of drug misuse.

However, it is not easy to invest harm reduction. Some people do not accept the idea to help people violating the law with the official resource. In Japan, harm reduction has not been infiltrated into the society. I think the reason is that methamphetamine dealt by antisocial organizations was dominant in Japan. Most Japanese hesitate to support people once related to antisocial groups.

When I was in the UK, cannabis users were very common. And some practitioners seemed not to deem it as problematic. Indeed, cannabis does not so frequently cause harmful reactions to the users. Nonetheless, a few people bring fatal results with cannabis use. I do not agree with the opinion to legalize the individual use of cannabis, which is considered or has already been realized, in some countries.