Anyone’s Child 9-10
King Street Bristol
BS1 4EQ

The Rt. Hon. David Cameron MP
10 Downing Street
London SW1A 2AA

14th July 2015

Dear Prime Minister,

The UK’s drug laws endanger everyone’s child – we need legal regulation now

We are writing to you from a new project launched today, ‘Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control’ (www.anyoneschild.org), and we‘d like to meet with you to discuss the impact of the UK drug laws on families.

We are a group of ordinary families who have joined together because we share the grief and sorrow from having loved ones who have been hurt by our failing drug laws. Please find the time to read the enclosed stories in which we describe what happened to Martha, Roland, Jake, Alan and James. All have had their lives blighted or have died because our approach to drugs is based on criminalisation, not care. What has happened to us could happen to anyone’s child, and will continue to happen to many thousands of other families every year.

We have come to the conclusion that not only do our drug laws harm and kill, but that legally regulating drugs through pharmacies and doctors, rather than street dealers, would have better protected our loved ones. In fact, some might still be alive if drugs were under strict government control.

We find it deeply offensive that you and many of your parliamentary colleagues refer to fears for your own children to scare the public into supporting criminalisation, and to block discussion of alternatives. Yet, as you know, studies from all over the world – including our own Home Office – show that criminalisation does not stop people using drugs, and that it creates other major harms on top of those related to drug use itself. These studies also show that in other countries alternative approaches are already in place that keep people far safer. We could too, if only parliament had the courage to explore them.

We know you understand that we need to change our drug laws. In 2002 you called on the UK government to “initiate a debate at the UN on alternatives to prohibition, including legal regulation”. It is too late for us, but we ask you, for the sake of all those other families who can avoid our fate, to take up your leadership role on this issue again. For now all we ask is that you conduct an independent review into our approach to drugs. You must look at the 2 evidence, and compare what we do now with all the alternatives. A clear majority of the public support a review and it would serve as a catalyst to bring political parties to act together to save lives.

We believe our politicians owe it to all families to protect, not endanger us.

Yours sincerely,

Anne-Marie Cockburn
Cara Lavan
Mick and Hope Humphreys
Katrina Robertson
Rosemary and Jeremy Humphries