Advisory Council
on the Misuse of Drugs
Pathways
to Problems - Hazardous use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs
by
young people in the UK and its implications for policy.
Note: The ACMD
have the legal duty under the Misuse of Drugs Act to provide
Government with independent scientific advice about both drug
risks and regulatory options.
(a) They are consumed for same purpose: “a large proportion of young people use tobacco, alcohol and other drugs in the pursuit of pleasure, solace, acceptance or escape” [p.8, para 1].
(b) They act on the brain the same: “Such drugs all act on the same areas of the brain, altering its normal function and hence the user’s experience” [p.8, para 1].
(c) They have the same potential to cause harm: alcohol and tobacco’s “harmfulness to individuals and society is no less than that of other psychoactive drugs” [p.10, Recommendation 1].
(d)
They are viewed as the same by young people: “While tobacco,
alcohol and other drugs all have differing legal status, many
young people do not appear to recognise these distinctions”
[p.64, para 4.46].
2. Evidence of
the difference in treatment, the under-regulation of legal drugs
and over-regulation of illegal drugs:
(a) “While
prosecutions for the sale and possession of illegal drugs are
common, prosecutions of vendors of cigarettes or alcohol to
underage customers are very rare” [p.8, para 7].
(b) There are
“heavy penalties for the sale and possession of illegal
drugs” [p.8, para 7] and “controls on the availability,
pricing and marketing … of illegal drugs [are] already
highly restrictive” [p.47, para 3.36] while…
(c)
“Given what is now known about tobacco … it seems
entirely unjustified that such a dangerous drug, clearly labelled
as lethal, should still be sold to minors” [p.47, para
3.34]. “Alcohol companies have considerable freedom to
market their products to young people using the full panoply of
product development, advertising and other techniques”
[p.42, Key Points].
3. Evidence that
neither the under-regulation of legal drugs nor the
over-regulation of illegal drugs is effective:
“Young
people in the
4. Evidence the
ACMD has discriminated between equally harmful drugs on the
unjustifiable ground of legal status:
“In its
first 30 years, the ACMD has focused most of its attention on
drugs that are subject to the controls and restrictions of the
Misuse of Drugs Act (1971). Although its terms of reference do
not prevent it from doing so, the ACMD has not considered alcohol
and tobacco other than tangentially. The scientific evidence is
now clear that nicotine and alcohol have pharmacological actions
similar to other psychoactive drugs. Both cause serious health
and social problems and there is growing evidence of very strong
links between the use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. For
the ACMD to neglect two of the most harmful psychoactive drugs
simply because they have a different legal status no longer seems
appropriate” [p.14, para 2].
5. ACMD want to educate all that the unequal treatment of legal and illegal drug consumers and traders is not objectively justifiable but instead is based on subjective factors, unjustifiable grounds related to cultural history:
“1.13 We
believe that policy-makers and the public need to be better
informed of the essential similarity in the way in which
psychoactive drugs work: acting on specific parts of the brain to
produce pleasurable and sought-after effects but with the
potential to establish long-lasting changes in the brain,
manifested as dependence and other damaging physical and
behavioural side-effects. At present, the legal framework for the
regulation and control of drugs clearly distinguishes between
drugs such as tobacco and alcohol and various other drugs which
can be bought and sold legally (subject to various regulations),
drugs which are covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) and
drugs which are classed as medicines, some of which are also
covered by the Act. The insights summarised in this chapter
indicate that these distinctions are based on historical and
cultural factors and lack a consistent and objective basis”.
6. Conclusion – ACMD recommend an end to unjustified discrimination between equally harmful drugs:
(a) “As
their actions are similar and their harmfulness to individuals
and society is no less than that of other psychoactive drugs,
tobacco and alcohol should be explicitly included within the
terms of reference of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of
Drugs” [p.10, Recommendation 1].
(b) “We therefore recommend that a fully integrated approach should be taken to the development of policies designed to prevent the hazardous use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs” [p.11, Recommendation 11].