|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Lib Dems Move To Legalise Personal Drug Use
Sky News Friday 05 Aug 2011 Party members are expected to back a motion at their conference next month calling on the Government to set up an expert panel to consider the shift. It will become official party policy if adopted in Birmingham in a move that will stoke tensions with their Conservative partners in the coalition. The Lib Dems would like to see drug law reforms based on legislation in Portugal, where the personal use of any controlled drug is no longer a criminal offence. Drug users would no longer face a prison sentence or fine but would be made to go for treatment or counselling instead. Punishments for dealing would not change. The motion states there is "increasing evidence that the UK's drugs policy is not only ineffective and not cost-effective but actually harmful, impacting particularly severely on the poor and marginalised". It claims the countries that have decriminalised possession of drugs have not seen increased use of those drugs relative to their neighbours. "The priority for those addicted to all substances must be healthcare, education and rehabilitation, not punishment," the motion says. Lib Dem members believe an evidence-based policy could produce large savings, which could be reinvested in education, treatment and rehabilitation programmes. The motion will be moved by Ewan Hoyle, founder of Liberal Democrats for Drug Policy Reform, and supported by Lib Dem MEP Sir Graham Watson. The Prime Minister's spokesman dismissed a similar call from Labour ex-Cabinet minister Bob Ainsworth to legalise hard drugs last year. Mr Ainsworth said the war on drugs had been "nothing but a disaster" and switching the trade from the hands of criminals to doctors and pharmacies appeared to be the best solution. Asked at the time whether David Cameron thought Mr Ainsworth's ideas merited consideration, his spokesman said simply: "No." He added: "The Government is not in favour of legalisation of drugs because we don't think it is the right approach." Labour and the Tories are both likely to oppose the Lib Dem plans and it is unlikely to become law because drug policy is not part of the coalition agreement. http://news.sky.com/home/politics/article/16044208
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!