Drugs should be legalised says Richard Branson, the former Labour drugs minister Bob Ainsworth, three former chief constables, Paul Whitehouse, Francis Wilkinson and Tom Lloyd, film director Mike Leigh, actors Julie Christie and Kathy Burke, leading lawyer Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC, Dame Judi Dench, and Sting. Finally the solution to the drugs problem is getting some publicity!
I have written before about the benefits that legalising all drugs will bring to everyone. The case is so strong I cannot imagine how drugs ended up being illegal in the first place. To me it seems completely crazy.
The Guardian has done a decent write up of the story here.
To see where I am coming read my previous drugs article
Richard Branson said it best when he said “The war on drugs has failed to cut drug usage, but has filled our jails, cost millions in tax payer dollars, fuelled organised crime and caused thousands of deaths. We need a new approach, one that takes the power out of the hands of organised crime and treats people with addiction problems like patients, not criminals,”
A statement I agree with wholeheartedly.
The comments at the bottom of the article pretty much covers the whole spectrum of peoples opinions.
Ranging from “legalise them, sell them, tax them and cut out all the horrendous violence that happens in the trade”
and
“C’mon Government. Do the right thing”
to “Coz we havent already got a big enough problem with two legalized substances. And where does Branson get his information from? I have first hand experience of serious drug use for decades within my family and I can tell you I have seen services bend over backwards to help those involved, and that harks back to the early eighties and the formation of local drug teams.
I have said this a million times, if the powers that be want to seriously tackle drug abuse solve the inequalities in society as well as chase the money.”
and
“Wat a surprise. Another guardian article calling for drugs to be decriminaliased.
Nothing in the article explaining the effects drugs have on young people and their families.
DO I take it that no one at the guardian has any children ?”
I think the people who say they are against legalisation are missing one crucial thing. Legalisation is not going to stop people from using drugs. A obvious point but one that needs to be made all the same.
Just as people can ruin parts of their life through drug use, people can also do the same when the drugs are legal. I don’t think anyone disputes that.
The difference is you don’t pile on top of a person that already has problems, a criminal record, jail time and all the stigma that goes with criminal prosecution. Surely these people should be helped and not hindered. Not just for their sake but for the sake of society as a whole. Be it through being to find work easier, being able to be treated, being able to purchase drugs which are not lethal to them, by massively reducing the taxpayers burden for trying and imprisoning “criminals” and then having to support them when they leave prison.
I covered this in my previous post. Check it out to see a wider range of benefits of legalising drugs. Really there is no sensible reason for them to be criminalised.
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