With a better idea of what the cafés involve, our second promised many more people and the subject matter possibly playing a role. Unfortunately in practice the number remained roughly the same. Perhaps the audience's affinity for the subject was simply too great and left them indisposed. Nonetheless, it was still an entertaining and informative session, this time welcoming comedian Austin Low to our humble laboratory. He began the afternoon as Dr. Tatner had done, with a show of hands as to whether pupils felt that drugs such as ecstacy and cannabis should be legalised, decriminalised or remain illegal. The majority voted for legalisation, but Austin, unlike Dr. Tatner, did not put forth his own stance.
After a brief introduction to the current policies regarding drug control in Britain, Mr. Low then presented the pupils with a 'mix'n'match' game, placing various yearly death statistics and the names of a variety of drugs upon a table, and allowing us to judge which we thought were the most lethal. Some of the results were expected - tobacco leading the pack - while others, such as the very low number of deaths directly linked to ecstacy use, were surprising, and raised questions with which to continue the debate. As it proceeded, it was clear to many that some policies were very much dictated by the media, scaring politicians into controlling what are comparatively harmless substances. Government drug advisor David Nutt was also brought into the discussion, after having been sacked for his claims that ecstasy and LSD were less dangerous than alcohol. Yet the problems of total legalisation were also debated, and it soon became apparent that, once again, nothing would be resolved. But resolution was not the aim of the café. It provided many with a new understanding of the complexities of controlling recreational drugs, and was thoroughly enjoyed by all who attended. A job well done, Austin!
