This blog was written by Anyone’s Child member, Anne-Marie.

In 2013 I lost my only child, Martha Fernback, at the age of 15 to an accidental ecstasy overdose. That warm July day gave nothing away as to what was about to unfold as my time as a mother abruptly came to an end.

Living beyond my worst fear actually happening was a barren landscape that I was reluctant to build a new life on alone, but what I also noticed was a heightened and profound intuition, an internal navigation system confidently guiding me forward.

Grief is a cruel, but powerful motivator. Since losing Martha I have reluctantly been propelled into the world of drug policy campaigning. A frustrating world where the political disregard for scientific evidence is astounding. We’ve all witnessed that recently during the COVID crisis – when the government has chosen to ignore expert advice that we know directly impacts all our futures.

I watched with hope the other day when I heard Keir Starmer being interviewed by Sophie Ridge as to his views on drugs and whether we should decriminalise cannabis possession. He disagreed saying that he’s never subscribed to that view and as the Former Director of Public Prosecutions mentioned vulnerable people, drug gangs, county lines, knife crime and the harm to society. Sophie then asked him if he thought the current policy is roughly right and he agreed, adding the caveat that there’s always room for a grown up debate about exactly how we deal with these cases and then went on to talk about what sits behind drugs.

I was left feeling incredibly disappointed by the end of the interview – how he can have so much experience and insight and form that conclusion? Just yesterday in parliament he talked about ‘following the evidence’. My intuition is telling me that Keir Starmer is saying what he thinks we want to hear. 

I proudly campaign for Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control, the families involved have all suffered due to our inadequate and outdated drug policies. I follow the science and expert advice with regards to drug regulation as prohibition has never worked. It merely pushes everything into a black market which is completely unregulated. I believe that had Martha taken something that was legally controlled and regulated, labelled with recommended dosage and a list of ingredients, she wouldn’t have taken enough for 5-10 people in one go. Of course my hopes for a regulatory model to be adopted one day is aimed at people aged 18+, but even if they inadvertently got into the hands of someone as young as Martha was, they’d still be able to make a more informed choice than crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.

People in high office like Keir Starmer owe it to us to use his expertise and take the brave steps to adopt new policies that are fit for modern society. Surely after 50 years of failed policy -with the UK being the drug death capital of Europe-  it’s time to follow the evidence and try something new? We need visionary leaders to speak out on the need for change so that we can save lives now.

So Keir I’d like you to stand by my 15 year old daughter’s grave and tell me that the current policies are working and ‘roughly right’