Make dope legal!

A DRAMATIC call for Ministers to urgently consider legalising cannabis was made by senior MPs.

A DRAMATIC call for Ministers to urgently consider legalising cannabis was made by senior MPs.  

They say the present approach to the UK’s massive drug problem is not working — and even decriminalising harder substances such as heroin should be looked at.

The shock verdict comes in a groundbreaking report from Westminster’s influential Home Affairs Committee.

It follows a year-long Parliamentary inquiry which heard evidence from witnesses including comic and former heroin addict Russell Brand — who called for drugs possession to be no longer a crime.

The committee urges PM David Cameron to set up a Royal Commission to look at ALL OPTIONS and report back before the next election. And it says the Government should fund detailed research into “the overall costs and benefits of cannabis legalisation” — and how such a move has worked abroad.

The MPs were impressed by the system in Portugal, where possessing small amounts of drugs — including HEROIN — has been decriminalised.

But the committee calls for the prosecution of senior bank officials responsible for laundering the profits of drugs gangs and for better drugs education in schools.

It also wants more done to tackle drug-taking in prison.

Chairman Keith Vaz said the scale of the problem meant it was vital that Ministers do not “kick the issue into the long grass”.

He said: “Drugs cost thousands of lives and the taxpayer billions of pounds each year.

“This is a critical, now-or-never moment for serious reform.

“If we do not act now, future generations will be crippled by the social and financial burden.”

A report ten years ago by a previous Home Affairs Committee calling for a liberalisation of the drugs laws was never acted upon.

Ironically, Mr Cameron was on that committee — although he has changed his views since then.

Russell Brand told the MPs in April: “Penalising people for possession of drugs is expensive. The costs would be better spent, I think, on education and treatment.

“Making it illegal isn’t working anyway. Being arrested isn’t a lesson, it’s an administrative blip.”

Experts were split on the issue.

Sun GP Dr Carol Cooper said: “It’s clear the current drugs policy isn’t working. But it is a worry that many drugs are linked with mental health problems.”

Danny Kushlick, of drugs legalisation group Transform, said: “Prohibition has created a vast market for organised crime, has failed to protect our children and is bringing misery to deprived communities.”

But Marjorie Wallace, of mental health charity Sane, warned it was vital to “take account of the specific damage that cannabis can do to the developing brain”.

Colonel Richard Kemp, former Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, said it was “nonsense” to argue that legalising drugs would badly hit Taliban income.

He said: “Any impact would be marginal at very best. Poppy farmers, drug dealers and narcotics traffickers are one source of Taliban funds but far from the greatest.”

Source: The Sun.co.uk