Today Release published an ad in the Guardian which, 30 years ago, I would have been instantly sacked for, even as the most junior, trainee copywriter.
As an advertisement it was about as bad as it gets but it was still powerful because of the extraordinary list of endorsees. What a shame they couldn’t have done the job properly. There are dozens of creative teams in London who would have given their eye teeth to have been given the brief – and they would have done it on agency time with the creative director’s approval at no charge.
Then, apparently, there a was a “live news conference” from the Waldorf Astoria in New York, with Sir Richard Branson and the Global Commission on Drug Policy calling for an end to the war on drugs. I couldn’t find it on BBC , Sky, CNN , Al Jazeera or the web.
I’m afraid that today did not go off as well as it should have.
It is true that the media have lost interest. The politicians just blank the issue. They don’t respond at all. The Home Office reaction last night was offensive and derisory, using the same cliches that transcend whatever government is in power. They are the conceits of a civil service bureaucracy that stifles any reform.
What are we going to do to break this inertia?
I’ve made 16 complaints this year to the Press Complaints Commission and two complaints to the Office for Judicial Complaints about blatant untruths about cannabis.
Meanwhile, David Cameron speaks blatant untruths (in direct contradiction to things he’s said previously) and there is nothing I, nor anyone, can do about it. My letters and the dozens of letters in support from CLEAR members are just ignored.
Mr Cameron is negilgent and irresponsible. Not just on the cannabis issue but on harmful drugs, he and his minsters are directly and personally responsible for death, misery and degradation in Britain on an horrendous scale because they fail to grasp the nettle.
Last week, a mother and daughter were sent to prison at Worcester Crown Court for 20 months for growing five cannabis plants. Meanwhile GW Pharma grows 20 tonnes a year under a unique licence (bought with political donations) in order to make Sativex. Why is there never any mention of Sativex users developing psychosis? Sativex is just a tincture of cannabis. Mr Cameron says cannabis “leads to huge mental health problems”.
It is very difficult to distinguish between how Mr Cameron is failing here and, for instance, how Sharon Shoesmith failed in her duty as a director of childrens’ services at Haringey. She was sacked for one tragic life lost. Cameron’s failures are several orders of magnitude greater.
The failure by ministers to follow best practice and evidence and their promotion of deliberate lies and misinformation is a scandal and in any rational system of justice would be subject to challenge. By any standard of morality the government’s failure to act amounts to criminal negligence.
It is disgusting that these confidence tricksters and charlatans are able to ignore the truth with impunity. They maintain this deeply damaging and hugely expensive mistake with malice aforethought. Cameron and his cronies are the real drugs gangsters.
Thursday, 2 June 2011
Cameron And His Cronies Are The Real Drugs Gangsters | CLEAR
via clear-uk.org
