Britain's racist drug policy needs urgent overhaul 

This a public health issue, not an aspect of criminal law.

absolutely spot on. the home office shouldn't even be in charge of drug policy. it should be under the department for health.

This country is long overdue a serious adult conversation about drug use.

if there was a war on drugs, how comes nobody in Parliament are stop and searched for cocaine?

My biological mother was a drug addict. I'm so against drug. But I'm aware if you keep make drug illegal it will not solve the issue. There is exemple like Portugal which legalised drugs, and they manage to decrease the use of drug. Addiction is a terrible sickness and noone deserve to die from this. Thank you for parents and family to talk about it.

My father was an raging alcoholic all his life. He received little to no help. In the last few months of his life, out of desperation, he tried substituting one addiction for another and started smoking marijuana quite heavily. The police one day caught him with some weed, then a few days later raided his flat and took all his personal stash. He went back to alcohol that very day and died a few weeks later from acute alcoholic pancreatitis. If the law was different and my dad was allowed to continue smoking weed instead of drinking, he would probably still be alive today.

There never was a war on drugs. Just people. Who need help.

Heart goes out to these parents and families. They should be listened to.

The 1st guy was an undercover cop who used to set people up. I respect him for speaking out now. That's awesome. You have to legalise all drugs. Follow Portugals example. Here people just demonise the addict but never look at the reasons why. The war on drugs has been an epic failure. Its made the situation far worse. I live in Dundee which is the drug death capital of Europe. Nothing ever gets done about it. Too many ppl benefit from things the way they are. It's a joke. How many people have to die? It's vile. 😢

Weed being considered as dangerous and illegal when alcohol is legal is wild to me.

Yknow... It feels like we sometimes arent a democracy and that the government ignore the better options that everyone else wants.

You can get it delivered within minutes but trying to get a prescription is impossible 😑

Look at how Portugal and how they are dealing with it.

Solidarity with these families, they are 100% correct.

We need a much wider public discussion about this to dispel the myths that so many still believe. I'm sure parliament still think Reefer Madness was a documentary. Drug reform is a huge step in the correct direction!

Id like to thank Drugs for winning "The war on drugs."......... and still undefeated!

OK PoliticsJOE RU-vid mods, pin this please. The first speaker in the intro is Neil Woods (namestraps at 3.18) and he's a fucking hero. He served as an undercover officer in Manchester during the crack epidemic and has, to my knowledge, the most comprehensive and authoritative stance on the war on drugs that I've ever come across. I implore all viewers to check out his interviews on the subject. Thanks.

Like the old saying goes, "you don't care until it touches you." Drug reforms are way overdue.

Good to see Politics Joe covering drug law reform. End racist drug laws.

Tragic failure of drug policy.

It’s way past time that drugs were dealt with in a legal way that increases safety, lowers crime and criminality and saves lives. If sold through controlled outlets it would bring in tax revenue as well. At the moment the policy relies on trying to scare people (which doesn’t work in most instances) and raises criminal gangs and addiction to very high levels; it’s a lose-lose policy, in fact.

As usual many of us have been advocating drug legalisation for many years. We get sick of hearing MPs saying "They would not subject their children to legalised drugs", completely forgetting that it is the money involved that keeps the crime going on our streets. No profit no drug crime" Even our police support this, It is the politicians that have no guts.

Imagine the money the tax would bring in

Legalize, regulate and tax drugs. treat addiction as a health issue, safe spaces made available for consumption. The black market trade will dissapear overnight, there will be a tax take to invest in addiction treatment. Scotland has been trying to change drug laws for a while but westminster always says no.

Make homegrown for personal use legal. Same as homebrew laws.

The law prohibits the use of drugs, but only punishes the poor & allows rich to indulge. Poor get prison or hardly any help, wealthy get clinic & therapy. Treat both the same. Help all or prison as punishment for all.

Fully behind these parents. Decriminalise drugs. Change attitudes, allow people to access the services they need and take it out the hands of criminal gangs. Users are not the criminals here. Fully legalise cannabis as well. Tax and regulate it.

Regulate drugs through proper chemist shops and take the profits away from criminals…….

Afghanistan before the US/UK invasion banned the growing of the poppy, opium working with the UN. due to high cost which in turn reduced the amount of heroin users. The UK/USA war in Afghanistan floods the market with cheap heroin creating a pandemic with UK, USA soldiers guarding poppy fields!! There is no point asking the government for help when they are the drug dealers!

Anything involving Braverman for a resolution is doomed.

Regulation not policing. No society in history has irradicated the use of drugs. Addicts will always emerge but I dont see alcohol being banned because we have alcoholics. If we spend less on policing , tax and regulate more money available to the public purse, also will remove power form the dealers.

The main speaker in the video was Neil Woods, his book Good Cop, Bad War is excellent.

🏆Legalise & regulate ✊🏻

"We'd like to congratulate Drugs, for winning the war on Drugs"

Sad about someone dying from MDMA, but the lethal dose is about 1.5g. a normal dose is about 100mg. Those kids that died either took something mixed with something else, or took something like £100 worth each. Not sure how much it costs anymore but I doubt it's got cheaper. You can die from ingesting anything in crazy amounts, including water.

It's all about justifying police ans customs budgets and keeping the Daily Mail readers happy plus pressure from alcohol lobbying groups. Legalise, control and educate.

It needs to be declared a public health issue. First medicinal cannabis needs to be under the control of the NHS and regulated. Secondly, all other drugs should also be under the control of the NHS. Should build drug centres run by doctors, nurses, consultants, councillors and a body like citizens advice. GO’s would refer people with drug addiction to these clinics. The centres should have usage rooms equipped with things like clean needles, medical supplies and proper waste disposals. It would be a good way of weening people of drugs and giving them the help and support they need. I would also like to see the Alcohol age increased to 25 and over and banning online sales.

❤ well said.

10, maybe 15 years ago I heard the previous head of the DEA in the US interviewed on the radio. He claimed the US had spent literally TRILLIONS of dollars over the years and were in no better position in the fight to combat illegal drugs. He suggested legalisation of certain drugs and a palliative/addiction help approach for users rather than criminalising them. This approach had borne fruit in eg Holland. The government needs to legalise certain lower classes of drugs and sell them from eg pharmacies. This would guarantee consistency of product, cut out dealers and generate an enormous income for redirection to palliative/addiction services.

Just legalise drugs already. And set up special places for people to do it so it doesn't impact others.

The ‘War on Drugs’ failed as soon as it was announced and has cost billions to police. The most positive approach is legalising many ‘drugs’ and a health and well-being approach to drug and alcohol misuse and addiction.

The only war was against those very vulnerable,often very young people that so desperately needed help, but sadly after 13 years of austerity, even cancer patients aren’t being prioritised as they should be. The shear 💔 waste is devastating✊♥️

Prohibition doesn't work - I believe there's been some precedent concerning this? Unfortunately, I can imagine the Daily Mail (etc) response to this. Therefore, the major political parties don't show much interest in putting this onto a manifesto. as they'll be running scared on the perceived public response. Tony Blair's government made a very small step towards a more common sense approach - re-classifying Cannabis a Class C. Unfortunately, Gordon Brown changed that. Can't see much hope with the current lot - making Nos illegal, for example - what a lot of BS. Well done Politics Joe for airing this. It IS time for a change...

Loads of those Toffs from both Houses are doing lines of Charlie out their Rent Boy's asses every Weekend LOL

After so many countries around the world have legalised Cannabis, I am surprised the UK just isn't researching this at all, especially since Brexit which means it would be 10x easier.

As long as we give the right advice. No worries

Legalise, amphetamine, cannabis and MDMA, that would crash the demand for illegal cocaine and heroin,

It starts with knowing your children and talking to them about such things.If you make drugs legal and it is expensive the drug dealers will come into play as a cheap way to get it.Children need to know what is safe or not

It's not a criminal issue it's a societal problem. Wake up sheeple

The chief architects of "The War on Drugs" were America, Britain and France. It is a popular misconception that this policy has failed. In fact, it has achieved exactly what our racist, bigoted ancestors sought. We have fostered a policy of racial discrimination and segregation at home and destabilised the economies of countries we sought to control (Central American region for the US, Afghanistan/Pakistan for UK, North Africa for France) - All now havens for extremism and terrorism. We have also violated a founding principle of our legal systems as alcohol (a literal poison) is not on the list. Which is why we had a CPS lead by someone as corrupt and dishonest as Herr Starmer. We now have a legal system, police force, judiciary, government and NHS crippled by bigotry and criminality as a result.

Great Paul Merton joke " if drugs were legalised they could be sold in designated shops - W H Spliff, or Superdrug!

Legalise drugs to save lives

Starting with cannabis, does anyone think that it shouldn't be legalised and sold in shops??

Just to make clear, that guy who says his sons bought MDMA. This is why it should be legal. We've had enough of the demonisation. If it's pure and you know how to take it properly and the correct dose, it's way safer than what's legal.

Prohibition does not work, just look at speakeasies when alcohol was banned...

It has always been about ideology. Some class As could be bought as over the counter remedies for a long time.

Learn what causes addiction if you want to stop it.

I genuinely care about the children growing up in our society. As a society we need not to be naive about how we should amend our current situation and the impact of the way the prohibition of substances has escalated the harms associated. We must start to have grown up philosophical conversations about how we move to outcomes that are less harmful.

However they were quite good at Glastonbury.

Can someone tell me how the policies are racist? I genuinely don't understand. Thanks

😢

❤

Re marijuana legalisation. This is my model, for public cxonsideration. I believe this proposal is worthy of a Soverign Nation-State: of our country It can be supported by each and every political party, irrespective of personal idelogical leaning. It will create an entrirely new revenue stream for HMG, and requires a minimum of leguislative changes. People aged 18 + are legally allowed to posess and use marijuana. Only licenced retailers can sell people marijuana,: they can only buy their stock from licenced growers. There are only a limited number of licences to legally grow (and to then on-sell) marijuana. To buy and then to sell weed to people, there are a much-bigger-yet-still-limited-numbers of licences allowing this retail trade. All licences are for a fixed term, and must be surrendered back to HMG at the end of that term. Licences are only granted to an individual/small groups: individuals/small groups may only hold ONE licence. Licences are publically offered via auction. And that's it. Legal weed grown and sold by consenting adults. All non-licenced sale/supply/possession remains illegal. Any thoughts?

Its common sense.

🤠💜

I'd like some more detail about why it's racist. Nothing was explained here. Both the parents explaining their sad losses were white. Someone explain why drug laws are racist.

forget the social benefits. Just focus on the juicy tax revenue.

The war on drugs has always been about right wing ideology

Chissers would be out of a job 😅

Kids brought up in the past when parents were parents and smacked when appropriate, did ot have a drug problem, kids new they were cared about,now parents are to much let the kid decide things, no wonder they go looking .

Nobody forces you to take drugs it's a choice. And these people who took them choose the wrong path.

Easy solution is to not use drugs

"Doesn't happen in Switzerland, doesn't happen in Netherlands". Talk about cherry-picked examples. Where else doesn't it happen? Japan, Poland, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hungary. All with harsh drugs policies. Never mind the fact Netherlands and Switzerland are squarely mid-table on drugs deaths. Woeful arguing by the advocate.

young uns there is bugger all rebellious about drugs , the money you spend on it funds criminal gangs who will rip you off , it is a very lucrative trade and is the cause of wars and death , . us older ones we did drugs , beyond even the 60s and the world is still in problems , i trust in you to be strong and reject drugs ,

Decriminalise all drugs, it's a health issue not a criminal issue!

Look like Tory voters

its not a war on drugs ,its a war on illegal drugs , all manner of drugs are legally available freely or by prescription,

Drug use in Japan and South Korea is very low because they actually have harsh sentences for people who are caught taking drugs. The people are too scared to take drugs and so it's use is very low. So many people take drugs in this country and hardly anybody is ever prosecuted for it.

People don't die from taking drugs because drugs are illegal. They die because they were stupid enough to take drugs. These people are just trying to find somebody to blame. Sure, some people need to be treated for mental health issues, but legalising drugs won't make that happen. I mean, if we legalise speeding on the roads, that won't reduce the number of RTC's. If we legalise murder, it won't reduce the number of murders. Decriminalisation doesn't work.

Thank you for coming and speaking with our Anyone's Child members 💛

Bless their hearts ❤

If they would legalise drugs but for the courts its way too much money 💰 they wont do that but can always try

Woodsy 4 PM

The War On Drugs has failed. The discrimination is over

I agree with @robinmcara793 look to Portugal for how to manage drug use.

If you wanna grow weed do it - govt do as for the rest , avoid em :/