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| Ex-minister Bob Ainsworth: Make drugs legally available | |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| An ex-minister who had responsibility for drugs policy has called for all drugs to be legally available. | |
| Bob Ainsworth, a Home Office minister under Tony Blair, said successive governments' approaches had failed, leaving criminal gangs in control. | |
| The Coventry North East MP wants to see a system of strict legal regulation, with different drugs either prescribed by doctors or sold under licence. | |
| Ministers have insisted they remain opposed to legalisation. | Ministers have insisted they remain opposed to legalisation. |
| Media backlash | Media backlash |
| Mr Ainsworth is the most senior politician so far to publicly call for all drugs, including heroin and cocaine, to be in any way legalised. | |
| He said he realised while he was a minister in the Home Office in charge of drugs policy that the so-called war on drugs could not be won. | He said he realised while he was a minister in the Home Office in charge of drugs policy that the so-called war on drugs could not be won. |
| The Labour backbencher said successive governments had been frightened to raise the issue because they feared a media backlash. | The Labour backbencher said successive governments had been frightened to raise the issue because they feared a media backlash. |
| But he predicted in the end ministers would have no option but to adopt a different approach. | |
| He said: "Politicians and the media need to engage in a genuine and grown up debate about alternatives to prohibition, so that we can build a consensus based on delivering the best outcomes for our children and communities. Prohibition has failed to protect us. | He said: "Politicians and the media need to engage in a genuine and grown up debate about alternatives to prohibition, so that we can build a consensus based on delivering the best outcomes for our children and communities. Prohibition has failed to protect us. |
| Billions spent | Billions spent |
| "Leaving the drugs market in the hands of criminals causes huge and unnecessary harms to individuals, communities and entire countries, with the poor the hardest hit." | "Leaving the drugs market in the hands of criminals causes huge and unnecessary harms to individuals, communities and entire countries, with the poor the hardest hit." |
| Mr Ainsworth said billions of pounds was being spent "without preventing the wide availability of drugs". | Mr Ainsworth said billions of pounds was being spent "without preventing the wide availability of drugs". |
| "It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation, to make the world a safer, healthier place, especially for our children," he said. | "It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation, to make the world a safer, healthier place, especially for our children," he said. |
| "We must take the trade away from organised criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists." | "We must take the trade away from organised criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists." |
| BBC Home Editor Mark Easton said under such a system heroin and cocaine might only be available on prescription from registered doctors, while cannabis might be sold in a similar way to tobacco. | |
| "Under such a system, those who supplied or sold drugs without the requisite licence would still be operating illegally, in the same way as those who sell tobacco, alcohol or prescription drugs without a licence or proper authority would be currently," he said. | |
| However, all three main parties at Westminster remain opposed to legalisation, with a Labour spokesman saying Mr Ainsworth's were "not the views of Ed Miliband, the Labour Party or the public". | |
| Last week, Home Secretary Theresa May said the government's drugs strategy would remain focused on rehabilitation and reducing supply. | |
| Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said: "Drugs are harmful and ruin lives - legalisation is not the answer. | Crime Prevention Minister James Brokenshire said: "Drugs are harmful and ruin lives - legalisation is not the answer. |
| "Decriminalisation is a simplistic solution that fails to recognise the complexity of the problem and ignores the serious harm drug taking poses to the individual. | "Decriminalisation is a simplistic solution that fails to recognise the complexity of the problem and ignores the serious harm drug taking poses to the individual. |
| "Legalisation fails to address the reasons people misuse drugs in the first place or the misery, cost and lost opportunities that dependence causes individuals, their families and the wider community." | "Legalisation fails to address the reasons people misuse drugs in the first place or the misery, cost and lost opportunities that dependence causes individuals, their families and the wider community." |