Just a quick update. It seems like ages since I’ve posted anything new here. That’s about to change, as we finally move into Phase 2 of The Ceasefire Initiative.

In 2021, this project got derailed twice. First by the death of the Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, and then because of my own health issues. It’s time I got this campaign back on track. Phase 2 was meant to broaden our simple message, and expand on our small idea.

Our small, simple idea is this: Let’s stop arresting people for possession of any substance. It’s the only way we can create an honest, safe space to consider proper drug law reform. What we are calling for is an informal end to hostilities in the war on drugs. What we are calling for is a ceasefire.

This campaign is community lead, from the bottom up. We know that official positions don’t easily shift, and they are shifting even slower in the UK, compared to many more progressive parts of the world. So we wish to make a direct plea to judges, prosecutors, and all serving police officers to stop arresting, and prosecuting people for simple possession. Think of it as civil disobedience performed by civil servants. If this campaign prevents just one arrest, or prosecution. than it will have been worth it.

Why stop arresting people? That’s easy, an encounter with law enforcement is one of the worst outcomes for a drug user, and that’s not down to the drugs, it’s down to prohibition.

Prohibition is a failed policy, it doesn’t work. Just ask Al Capone. It hands an extremely lucrative market in psychoactive substances to gangsters. And it’s big business, so the rewards are more than worth the risk.

Arresting people for possession doesn’t help anything, or anyone. It needs to end, and that end starts on the street. The laws are wrong, so if you’re a serving officer, please use your discretion, and don’t enforce them, if the only law broken is simple possession.

How can you help? The Ceasefire Initiative doesn’t accept donations, our currency is likes, retweets, and social media shares. For this campaign to succeed, we need as many eyes on us as possible.

The first step to end any war is a ceasefire. The War on Drugs is no different. Only one side is waging hostilities against the other, and we kindly ask the aggressors to lay down their arms. Please, please, please! Stop arresting people for drug possession. Confiscate the substances if it makes you feel better, but let all the people go. Thank you.

#Ceasefire4Good #Ceasefire4Ever

Doug / The Ceasefire Initiative @Ceasefire4Good