Legalise #

A while ago I listed some of the policies that I would implement if ever I became mayor of Englandshire. One of these policies would be the legalisation of some drugs. There is an interesting piece in the Guardian today regarding this very issue but with the kicker being that it would be a perfect Tory policy to announce. Now it goes on in detail about it, but the matter is so toxic that despite actual physical evidence to the contrary they still won’t legalise drugs at all and in fact, no political party (Nick Clegg wants a Royal Commission however) will as it would be suicide for them. The blue rinse brigade a.k.a. the only ones that vote would have collective fits if their party did it, so they won’t.

It is a big shame though, as it would be a fantastic opportunity to wrong foot the other parties and actually introduce and use evidence based policies as opposed to naked electioneering. It works in Portugual and the Netherlands, and there are even laws being currently passed in some states in the US that would allow certain substances to be decriminalised. For a pro-business party, I cannot understand why this frankly speaking, revenue stream would go unrecognised let alone the reduction in crime it would bring. It can only really be the argument above and also intense lobbying from the tobacco and alcohol industries that prevent it.  Notice I didn’t even bring up the ‘morals and ethics’ argument? That’s because there is no such thing for modern politicians. All they are are craven yes-people who only want to keep being politicians as it gives them job security for 5 years and as much expenses as they can trouser.

To be fair, the implementation of such a system would initially be costly, as well as processing permits and the setting up of controlled shops etc. so it may drive the cost of the products up past the point where people would actually buy them, as black market (as opposed to current illegal) stuff would be cheaper but that is pure speculation.