PERSONAL DRUGS LIKE COCAINE AND HEROIN SHOULD BE LEGAL, SAY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Liberal Democrats Yesterday Called for Possession of Controlled Drugs
- - Including Heroin and Cocaine - to Be Made Legal If They Are For
Personal Use.

The party's annual conference in Birmingham voted for reforms to drugs
laws which could also lead to Amsterdam-style cannabis cafes opening
across Britain.

The decision means it is now official Liberal Democrat party policy,
to which leader Nick Clegg is bound - although the Home Office said it
had 'no intention' of changing the laws.

Lib Dem MEP Chris Davies told delegates: 'We have had drug prohibition
for 50 years and drug use has increased. The only way to stop the
criminals is to undermine the supply chain by taking away their income.'

Party members said possession of any controlled drug should be a civil
offence which would see transgressors given health advice and
education by social workers.

They also called on the government to consider a framework for a
'strictly controlled and regulated' cannabis market with
government-controlled retail outlets.

The Lib Dem proposal claims that decriminalising the possession of
drugs for personal use in Portugal has not led to a rise in abuse. It
says 'heroin maintenance' clinics in Switzerland and the Netherlands
have delivered health benefits for addicts.

Conservative MP Charles Walker dismissed the Lib Dem vote. 'If they
think taking heroin and cocaine and smoking skunk is OK that's up to
them but the government and most people in Britain do not agree,' he
said.

Labour MP David Winnick, who sits on the Commons home affairs
committee, said the vote was unlikely to be adopted during this
parliament 'even though so many people recognise the current laws are
not working'.