LONDON: David Cameron should urgently set up a royal commission to consider all the alternatives to Britain’s failing drug laws, including decriminalisation and legalisation, an influential cross-party group of MPs has concluded.
The Commons home affairs select committee says after taking evidence from all sides of the drug debate, including from Russell Brand and Richard Branson, that “now, more than ever” there is a case for a fundamental review of all UK drug policy. “This is a critical, now-or-never moment for serious reform,” they say.
The committee chair, Keith Vaz, told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that a royal commission to look at every aspect of drugs policy and report back by 2015 is “not a big ask”.
But government sources were dismissive of the move to a royal commission as “simply not necessary”, insisting that drug use in Britain was at the lowest level since records began.
Among the recommendations contained in a report published on Monday, the MPs say Home Office and health ministers should be sent to Portugal to examine its system of replacing criminal penalties for drug use with a new emphasis on treatment. They say the Portuguese example clearly reduced public concern about drug use and was backed by all political parties and the police.
The MPs also suggest the British government should fund a detailed research project monitoring the recent legalisation of marijuana in the American states of Washington and Colorado and the proposed state monopoly of cannabis production and sale in Uruguay.
The committee visited Colombia, the US and Portugal as part of their year-long inquiry.
In the report the MPs say: “We recommend the establishment of a royal commission to consider the best ways of reducing the harm caused by drugs in an increasingly globalised world.
– Guardian News and Media 2012
