In the words of Andrea Leadsom, “Everyone is entitled to a private life before becoming an MP. I smoked weed at university.”
While we know that many, many UK politicians have publicly described their own drug use, there’s very few publicly supporting evidence-based drug policy reform, or publicly support regular citizens’ entitlement to said ‘private life’. The Tories blame violence on country lines on Middle Class Drug Users throwing ‘cocaine dinner parties’ while themselves leaving a trail of white powder in their wake.
That’s not to say that cocaine legalisation is being discussed in many countries, but there is still resounding silence even on issues like cannabis, where for years polling has shown that a majority of the public are in favour of legalisation, and families with children depending on medical cannabis to treat drug resistant seizures are struggling to afford their legal medicines because of a lack of NHS access. Even the Lib Dems, longtime champions of progressive drug policies, have gone quiet.
So, what gives?
In this episode of Volteface TV, Paul and Katya discuss why the UK politicians won’t openly support UK drug policy reform, and crucially, break down what can be done about it.
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