Legalise all drugs and sell least harmful ones in shops, say peers

The possession and use of all illegal drugs should be decriminalised and the least harmful substances should be regulated and sold in licensed shops, an inquiry by a group of cross-party peers has found.

A system for testing the safety of new drugs should be introduced with low-risk substances sold with labels detailing their risks, like cigarette packaging, members of the all-party parliamentary group for drug policy reform said.

While the supply of the most dangerous substances should remain banned, users caught with a small quantity of any drug should not be penalised, the inquiry said.

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The proposals are likely to irk the Prime Minister. David Cameron rejected calls by MPs to set up a royal commission to consider the decriminalisation of illegal drugs.

A panel of nine Conservative, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Crossbench peers from the all-party group conducted a parliamentary inquiry into new psychoactive substances.

Its chair, Baroness Meacher, said: “The Misuse of Drugs Act is counter-productive in attempting to reduce drug addiction and other drug harms to young people.”

The Act, which has been in force for 40 years, is in desperate need of reform, the group said.

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The remaining sections of the Act in use are causing “serious risks to the many young people who are determined to experiment with drugs”, the group said.

In support of decriminalising the use of all drugs, the report alluded to the model in Portugal, where the numbers of young addicts has fallen under decriminalisation. The proposals for low-risk drugs echo those planned for New Zealand.

“Some young people will always want to experiment and they are at real risk if they can only buy the less harmful drugs from the same dealers who are trying to push the most harmful ones,” the report said.

Strict controls could be introduced, as is planned in New Zealand, to regulate outlets, it added.