“People using drugs are expecting stigma and shame. You have to be extremely careful not to slip up and make them feel uncomfortable.” “You’re interviewing people who should be in prison, you should denounce them to the authorities.” “Not all people using drugs are vulnerable, this assumption is so stigmatising!” “Sharing a story anonymously [...]
This blog makes the case for the legalisation and regulation of drugs by explaining how it can protect young and vulnerable people in our communities. This piece is an edited extract of Transform’s Debating Drugs guide. Rather than protecting young and vulnerable people, the so-called ‘drug war’ (prohibition) has placed them at ever-greater risk of: the [...]
This blog is written by Anyone’s Child member Hope Humphreys. A truth, universally acknowledged, is that laws are there to keep us safer. But is it true? What about UK Drug Laws? The Government doesn’t approve of drugs. People must not use them, end of, and there are strict, punitive, policies to stop us. [...]
Just recently the Scottish Government announced proposals to decriminalise the personal possession of drugs and explore a roadmap to legal regulation. Their proposals show a commitment to treating drugs as a matter of health, rather than a criminal issue. If Westminster were to allow Scotland to move forward with these proposals, we could see a [...]
In a powerful demonstration of unity, I had the privilege to meet activists, politicians, and journalists at Parliament Square on the 27th of June to discuss UK drug policy reform. The event was the seventh mass lobby organised by Anyone's Child - a network of families with lives devastated by the harms of prohibition. Thousands [...]
Anyone’s Child Lobby of Parliament 2023, held on the 27th of June, was an annual event that advocates for a paradigm shift in current drug legislation. The people attending a new government approach that focuses on safety and harm reduction rather than criminalisation posed by the judicial system that is currently mostly used. The [...]
We are delighted to have a chapter in the recently published book, 'Drug Science and British Drug Policy', which explores the failure of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), the law which established drug prohibition and the criminalisation of people who use and sell drugs in the UK. The experiences of Anyone's Child [...]
Legal regulation of non-medical cannabis is quickly becoming a reality across the world. As countries introduce different regulatory models with varying restrictions over how cannabis is produced, sold and consumed, there are valuable lessons to be gleaned about how cannabis can be regulated most effectively, as well as showing where policy design can potentially [...]
This blog is written by Anyone’s Child coordinator, Mary Ryder. Mary contributed to the Truth Commission’s work on drugs as part of her PhD research which investigates drug policy and armed conflict in Colombia. The Colombian Commission for the Clarification of Truth, Coexistence and Non-Repetition (the Truth Commission) published its final report in June [...]
Have you heard? Legal regulation is in and prohibition is out. Front cover of Cosmopolitan UK The drug war is SO last season… …harm reduction is SO hot right now. Seriously, I read it in Cosmo! Roll up! Roll up! You heard it here first. That’s right - our case for legal [...]
