40% of the UK have tried illegal drugs. 1 in 10 people used an illegal substance in the past year. Prohibition is not just ineffective. It's hypocritical. The middle classes take cocaine, MDMA with impunity, whereas drugs are used as an excuse to arrest 'undesirables'

I'm a drug and alcohol nurse specialist in addiction. My masters dissertation is on decriminalisation. Here's why it's important 👇

I fully endorse the Green policy as well. Another side to this is in terms of the criminal justice system, which is clogged with people who commit offences to feed their habit one way or another. Many County Lines recruits are kids who've been trafficked to pay off drug debt 1/

So really, the Green policy will not make street drugs readily available. It will not make it easier for young people to procure hard drugs. It will reduce drug related crime, gang crime and theft. It will save lives, and not punish the already suffering addict. It will take away the criminal gangs top source of income. Drugs. It will save billions on criminal justice, create more prison space and capacity in the system for real crime and fund the NHS. It will prioritise evidence based treatment and harm reduction.

Educating young people too is vital. Drugs are in the real world, either we make sure they are educated by reliable sources, or they will end up learning for themselves or from unreliable sources. It's the same reason we have sex education.

Before prohibition in America in 1907, 75% of addicts were in work and functional members of society. There were no drug gangs and accidental drug overdoses where minimal as supply was regulated. Prohibition changed all of this.

Some drugs will be made available to the public, such as cannabis, on a similar way to alcohol. In holland for example, cannabis use rates stayed the same when legalised, but they generate tax revenue which supports their health system. It also means a clean steady legal supply, creating legal jobs and destroying the black market.

Regulation of supply means clinicians like me can tread patients with HAT (heroin assisted therapy). This will be a prescription only so not available to the public. It is highly effective and reduces most heroin related harm and crime. Patients no longer steal to fund their habit. The black market disappears overnight. The state provide safe and regular supply by prescription.

Decriminalisation means that addicts are not treated as criminals, but as patients requiring help. The billions spent locking them up can be better spent on rehabs, detoxes and community treatments.

Legal regulation means the government controls how drugs are produced, sold, and used, instead of leaving them to illegal markets. Who would you rather decide? It’s similar in principle to how alcohol or prescription medicines are handled — not “anything goes”, but strict rules.

A thread on what drug legalisation actually means and why it's important. Ignore the hysteria, follow the evidence 👇

Labour and the Tories have failed to invest adequately in drug and alcohol treatment. Barring the Same Carol Black Review which did allow for some investment, policy and austerity has cut away at valuable treatment service. Now they pretend they care to play politics? Disgraceful. Than goodness the Greens are taking this seriously.

Labour is down 17.1% in Mike's constituency since he became an MP.