|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
UK: Ministers urged to consider legalising cannabis
Yorkshire Post Friday 18 Nov 2011 Baroness Meacher, chairwoman of the All Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform, said there were clear examples abroad showing appropriate regulation of drugs can help cut crime. The group, which includes former MI5 boss Baroness Manningham-Buller, has reviewed UK drugs policy, producing a report and concluded a new approach is needed. She was speaking ahead of the launch in the House of Lords of The War of the Global Initiative for Drug Policy reform which is bringing together countries who have successfully implemented alternative strategies or are interested in reform and present new data and research. It is warning efforts to reduce the supply of narcotics are largely ineffective, and cause serious societal and environmental damage. It also claims that while demand persists, there is no possibility of stopping the drug trade because the profits are too great and it is time for countries to develop more practical policies. Members will be meeting again today to discuss ways in which UN conventions which form the legal basis of the international response to drugs might be rewritten. Baroness Meacher said: “The Czech Republic and Portugal have decriminalised possession and use of small quantities of drugs. They have lower levels of problem drug use, lower levels of use of these drugs among young people, lower cocaine use, lower heroin use. "It's fairly clear that you do quite well if you have decriminalisation, so that's one of the policies we think needs to be looked at. "We hope it will be a commission set up by David Cameron, our Prime Minister. "This should be a cross-party commission in our view because we need to take the politics out of this and start looking at the evidence in a sensible way." But Christian Guy, policy director at the Centre for Social Justice, warned that "waving the white flag" on drugs was the wrong approach. He added: "It is dangerous to simply say that something is now right because we are not working out how to tackle it and say it's wrong. "We need a clear message from law that it is wrong to send the right message to young people." But Baroness Meacher said: "If you leave cannabis in the hands of the criminals, you get skunk and it can be harmful – admittedly to a limited number of people, but it can be harmful." http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/at-a-glance/main-section/ministers_urged_to_consider_legalising_cannabis_1_3980027
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!