The prohibition of drugs doesn’t work. It does not protect society in any way and makes it more difficult to minimise the harm caused by drugs. Addicts are treated as criminals, rather than patients in need of treatment. Every year, thousands are put through the criminal justice system, needlessly paralysing the resources of the police, courts, and prisons. Families are torn apart and people are made jobless and homeless just because they are criminalised by outdated laws. Drugs barons are profiting from prohibition and using that money to corrupt those individuals and institutions that should protect society.
Prohibition neither prevents nor controls drug use. On the contrary, prohibition directly leads to the unregulated peddling of adulterated substances beyond the reach of the law.
Our Aims
Green Party drugs policy accepts the reality of drug use and strives to minimise harm, both to the user and to society.
The Green Party would:
- Re-legalise the possession, trade and cultivation of cannabis. People would be able to buy from Dutch-style licensed coffee shops or grow their own.
- Decriminalise small-scale possession of recreational drugs such as ecstasy.
- Ban advertising or sponsorship of alcohol and tobacco.
- Treat heroin addiction as a public health rather than a criminal issue.
- Ensure immediate funding for research into ways of halting drug addiction without withdrawal symptoms.
- Repeal the Public Entertainment (Drugs Misuse) Act, which has prevented harm reduction in clubs from taking place.
- Take the drug trade out of criminal control and place it within a regulated and controlled legal environment.
Addressing Your Concerns
Addicts will no longer need to steal to obtain drugs. There will be less crime and communities will be safer. There will be no territorial battles of competing dealers. A commission should be set up to recommend a regulated framework of social, economic and health conditions for drug use and supply, within a legalised environment of drug use. The evidence is to the contrary. Due to both the forbidden fruit effect and the nature of pyramid selling, prohibition tends to increase drug usein the young. In Holland, where cannabis has been legalised, use amongteenagers is significantly lower (29% of 15 year olds) than in the UK where it is an offence (41%). The main health risks associated with cannabis are due to it being smoked with tobacco. Cannabis offers effective pain relief treatment for patients with incurable conditions. It is clearly unethical to deny them this. Yes, but prohibition makes the problem worse.As ecstasy and cocaine are illegal, there are no controls on purity ordosage strength. This has resulted in deaths. In a legalized framework,drugs would not contain adulterants and impurities, and dosage would beaccurately quantified. Users would be more willing to seek medicaladvice, which doctors would be able to offer freely. There should bemore research into ways of helping to overcome addiction, such as theuse of ibogaine in its ability to interrupt opiate addiction withoutwithdrawal symptoms. Prohibition doesn’t work. The current drug laws criminalise millionsof people. The artificially high price of drugs directly causes furthercriminal activity. The Chief Inspector of Prisons recently stated that 72% of prisoners are jailed for drug related crime. A change in thelaws would alleviate overcrowding in prisons, release the Police todeal with serious crime and herald a change in police-communityrelations.
Learn More
More Information:
Green Party Drugs Group Website
Drugs in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society
Related Sections in the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society:
Crime Prevention
Health
Social Welfare
