Don’t worry, we don’t want your money, but we could absolutely use your help.

The Ceasefire Initiative is a small, simple idea to bring about an end to the war on drugs. 

It’s a community lead, working from the bottom up, aiming to build enough support to begin the process of genuine, meaningful, lasting drug law reform.

The war on drugs is one of the world’s longest, and most pointless wars. It has damaged, and destroyed countless lives, and cost billions. The time to bring it to an end is long overdue, but reform efforts often stall.

How do wars end?

The first step is usually a ceasefire, and with hard work, that ceasefire can hopefully translate into a permanent, and lasting peace. 

If you take the view that the war on drugs, really is a war on drugs, then all of the people caught up in it, are collateral damage. The Ceasefire Initiative aims to end that collateral damage, by protecting, and saving lives. 

Conversely, if the war on drugs is really a war on people who use drugs, then the Ceasefire Initiative brings that focus back on the drugs, and away from people who simply possess them.

The Ceasefire Initiative is not about decriminalising drugs, it’s about decriminalising people.

Calling for a ceasefire is not the destination, but the departure point. There will still be a long road ahead to properly end the war on drugs. A ceasefire is an achievable first step.

Ceasefire means that we stop arresting people for personal possession. Drugs would still be illegal, and the police will continue to have the power to confiscate them if they must, but arrests solely for personal possession would end. 

That’s it. That’s the idea. We stop arresting people for personal possession. Think of it as polite and courteous, civil disobedience.

We don’t need to change the laws to implement a ceasefire. If this idea catches people’s imaginations, if it gathers enough support organically and virally, then the authorities will be empowered to unofficially enact the ceasefire. Then we can finally begin to end the war on drugs.

Once there is a ceasefire, we can then look at addressing the situation long term. A ceasefire would create the space for real, positive, and lasting change.

The Ceasefire Initiative will cost nothing, and will save massive amounts of public money. Our overworked and underfunded police forces will save time on arrests, processing, and custody; our backlogged courts will have far fewer cases, and our overcrowded prisons will benefit greatly from a reduced population. On every conceivable metric, there will be a net positive gain. Everybody wins.

For the greatest majority of drug users, the worst thing that can happen to them with drugs, is getting caught in possession of them. Remove that risk, and you’ve dramatically reduced the harm caused by all drugs significantly.

Can one tiny campaign group with a just a small idea really affect change?

Let’s find out. Though for this to work, it’s going to take more than just me. I’m just one guy. I need you, too.

Tell your friends, tell you family, tell your coworkers, your Facebook friends, and your Twitter followers. Post about it everywhere. And write to your MPs, local councillors, and police commissioners. And share the link to this to this website, far and wide.

It’s a simple idea, if we just stop fighting the drug war, if we all call a ceasefire, we can bring an end to the war on drugs. And if that happened, everyone would win.

There will be more info coming soon. And I would welcome your input. What are your ideas to implement a ceasefire? You can email me on [email protected] or you can message on Twitter: @ceasefire4good. Thank you.

Doug – 23rd February 2021