Amsterdam’s Night Mayor Mirik Milan has publicly scorned the UK’s current drug policies off the back of a batch of recent toxic pill scares and club closures.

He see’s many flaws in their ability to protect people and instead opt to prosecute it’s citizens while sweeping under the table the innate dangers of drug use in the UK.

“If you look at drugs as being a problem just for dance music or for nightclub owners then you’re looking at it wrong. Drug use is something which sits in society and which you will not take out by having sniffer dogs at the door,”

Milan, who’s duty it is to represent the nightlife of the Dutch Capital and helps resolve issues with City Hall has shown that their way of dealing with illegal narcotics has led to minimal harm and early warnings to potential deadly deadly pills.

“One death is too many, so you have to make sure people know what to do if they do have any trouble with drugs. In Holland when one of these pills was brought to the testing station, big warning signs went out to all the clubs and the media and, as of yet, nobody has died because of these pills in Holland,”

He uses Switzerland as a prime example of drug testing as a positive step forward in harm reduction that has helped stop any deaths in over 7 years throughout the festival circuit.

“In Switzerland, you can test on location at festivals, and the last person to die in Switzerland due to taking drugs at an event was 7 years ago. It’s not like they’re just drinking schnapps in the woods in the hills in Switzerland, so if you look at it from a damage limitation perspective, it works”.

With Australia said to be spending up to $7 billion on a ‘cocktail of drugs’ last year alone according to the Bureau  of Statistics it’s time for this government to also take a look at what is and isn’t working and taking steps to help protect it’s people, especially in the wake of record arrests at recent festivals and the sad news of a death of a party goer in November.

Is the war on drugs really working?

source: Mixmag