Anyone’s Child street art in Bristol, UK.

“If you do the crime, you do the time,” a phrase carelessly bandied about to justify almost anything. Black and white. End of. Just get over it. But it’s difficult to “get over it” because of that fundamental flaw, the almost unanswerable question: What is a “crime?” Most have a good idea of what they would call a “crime.” Obviously, it’s something seriously bad and the Law must punish it, simple. But is it so simple? What if the crime has been manufactured for some spurious reason, or in the mistaken belief that it’s for our safety, for our own good, but then proves not to be? There have been some inhumane, cruel laws changed, eventually, in the realisation that they were wrong and far more dangerous than the “crime.”

“Laws are NOT always right: they can cause suffering and death. Bad laws can and do get changed.”

It used to be a crime to commit suicide. So not only was someone tragically dead, they were also a criminal, with all the stigma that brings. Abortion was illegal in UK and many women died trying to end their pregnancy at back-street abortionists. This law was changed: women are offered help and a medically safe termination if necessary. Homosexuality was a crime until quite recently, and the fight is ongoing for them to have all the rights that heterosexuals have. Those criminalised under the Act have even been offered a pardon, recognising it was totally wrong to punish people for being gay.

There is another law, though, which has criminalised, imprisoned and killed more people, directly and indirectly, than any other law, a law in desperate need of reform.

“The 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.” A short dry title, but its repercussions stretch far and continue to spread havoc. This sudden, presumptuous Act decided to decide for us which drugs we were allowed and which we were not. This was not done in any scientific manner. It was quite arbitrary: some dangerous drugs like alcohol were allowed but other less dangerous ones, like cannabis, were not. Then they made a list, supposedly in order of danger, and, ignoring most experts and evidence, they decided what punishment to give for possessing, growing, making, selling each of them.

Immediately the potential for becoming a criminal sky-rocketed. UK Prisons are filled with many otherwise law-abiding, non-violent “offenders,” their criminal records, and the brutality, blighting their lives forever. Young people, drawn to dangerous exciting things, use drugs only obtainable from criminals and can be damaged or even die. Those who have serious problems with drugs find it hard to get help and often ruin their health taking unregulated contaminated substances; many die of overdoses, or diseases spread by sharing needles. We are ALL in danger from this undiscriminating, irrational law.

“Those who have serious problems with drugs find it hard to get help and often ruin their health taking unregulated contaminated substances.”

The Misuse of Drugs Act hangs over everyone. It strikes at random. Don’t think that you are safe, because you’ve never touched an illegal drug: someone you know and love will have, and they are in danger. All of us at Anyone’s Child are united in trying to stop what has happened to us, happening to you. It’s too late for us, but maybe not for you.

Our student son went to prison for taking his turn to get ecstasy and cannabis for his adult friends and telling the truth. It was a first offence but because ecstasy is a Class A drug, according to that unscientific list, and ranked as the most serious, prison was, and is, the only option. Tragically, most of the people at Anyone’s Child are there because they have lost a child or children, a husband or a partner, a brother or a nephew. We have all realised that most deaths could be avoided if drug supply was taken from criminals and people had access to clean regulated drugs and/or any help they might need. Drugs have no place in the Criminal Justice System. Most people use drugs recreationally and come to little harm. The greatest dangers they face is not knowing what they are taking and draconian punishment from the law. If drugs do become a problem it should be treated as a health and social issue.

Hundreds and thousands of people, like our son, have been criminalised or done “time” for their “crime,” since the seventies, scarring their lives, costing countless millions. The real criminal, indiscriminate and uncaring, is the Misuse of Drugs Act, which has stopped time forever, for so many, and will continue to do so, until, with your help, we can put an end to it. Laws are NOT always right: they can cause suffering and death. Bad laws can and do get changed. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, is rotten, a low hanging fruit, ready to fall, together let’s shake it down, NOW!