Legalising drugs in the UK

I honestly feel that decriminalising all drugs in the UK is the only way we can successfully end our societies problems with drugs. I personally feel the  'War on Drugs' has been a failure, which has lead to the drug trade going further underground and become harder for the police to stop, meaning the problem is not being solved but just hidden. The Governemnt continues to defend it's drugs policies, even as the evidence against it mounts up to a level that will surely trigger change.


If we decriminalise drugs, then we bring these problems into plain view, we can see the full picture of the UKs drug problems and then we can start to make changes and address them. I dont feel we should legalise all drugs, but  we should legalise those which are not particularly dangerous, and also provide more dangerous drugs on the NHS for rehabilitation purposes.


If we did this we could:


. Set age restrictions and quantity restrictions


. Make clear the risks assosciated with each drug; just as cigarette packets  show you pictures of the many different ways in which they will kill you.


. Be sure of the purity and roll out consistent quality drugs, as most often the dangers assosciated with drugs come from impurities, or being told false information about what it is from a misinformed drug dealer.


. Tax it and make billions of pounds off it.


. Make harder drugs available through the NHS on prescription, and make drug abuse the medical issue that it is, rather than a criminal issue. This would allow us to treat and rehabilitate addicts with professional care, rather than just throw them in prison. Because many of those who are sent to prison return to drug use when they are released, and are unable to get a job due to their criminal records, this could in turn give them an incentive to use crime to fund their habit and the cycle continues while no problems are solved.


I realise there would still be a black market for cheaper drugs, but I dont think it would be half the problem it is in todays society. Just take a look at Portugal and you will see that legalising drugs can be a positive thing.