Scottish dance stars back cops' drug call
Author: Jonty Skrufff
Friday, May 5, 2006
Alex Smoke and David ‘Brun’ Brown from Swayzak both welcomed calls by Scotland’s influential Police Federation to legalise drugs this week, telling Skrufff the move could cut deaths and crime rates in their home country.
“I believe the only way to progress is to legalise and control drugs as opposed to outlawing them,” said Soma star Alex, “There are a million things more dangerous in the world and people should be allowed to risk their lives if they want to, which is far less likely if the drugs are from a clean supply and there is open discourse about their effects,” he pointed out.
Scottish exile David was more equivocal, telling Skrufff, ‘I guess the impact of legalisation would be good for prices on the street, meaning street crime would go down and government revenue would go up but it’s not going to improve peoples’ lives,” he suggested.
“And that’s what Scotland needs, a better life for the people. Scotland needs to stop thinking it’s the great place it once was and try and mould a better future. I feel that Scotland is two places; one of drugs and decay and the other of glorious landscapes and great writers. It could have a great future but it seems to lack the know-how or the politicians don’t care.”
Alex Smoke was equally cynical about politicians’ real motives for keeping drugs illegal, ridiculing the authorities’ decision last year to classify magic mushrooms as Class A; on a par with heroin and cocaine.
“Last year's criminalising of mushrooms was ridiculous in my opinion, it was clearly just a political move for them to look ‘tough on drugs’ as there's clearly very little health risk in taking mushrooms,” he said, “But civil liberties is a major issue now in the UK on all sorts of fronts and the government would certainly not allow this sort of freedom in the current climate.”
Alex’s views were particularly significant since he spent most of his teenage years largely avoiding both drugs and alcohol and today remains one of dance culture’s most clean living characters.
“As far as being deterred by illegality, I wasn't at all, my reasons for not taking a lot of drugs are purely to do with keeping my brain working,” said Alex. “And I trust my own moral compass when it comes to decisions like whether to take drugs or not.”
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