There’s even a Mea Culpa according to this report in the Daily Mail...
Drug use should be decriminalised and treated as a health problem because decades of hardline approaches to the problem have failed, former Tory leader Lord Hague said today.
The former minister said that the UK should follow the lead of Portugal, which has seen use drop after it cut criminal sanctions and ploughed money into healthcare instead.
The former Opposition leader admitted he had been guilty, like other Conservative politicians, of a reluctance ‘to abandon a ”tough” law and order approach’
But he said it was now clear something had to change to tackle the ‘massive social problem’, adding: ‘We will never suppress the supply of drugs while the demand goes on.’
Writing in today’s Times, the peer said: ‘Portugal has not legalised drugs and still punishes drug-trafficking.
‘But after decriminalisation, all major indicators in a variety of studies have improved, including an 18 per cent fall in the total costs to society after 11 years.
He added: ‘Recreational drug use is no longer unmentionable but in most governments the issue of drug addiction remains unresolvable.
‘Ministers face conflicting advice, bureaucratic inertia and a fear of doing the wrong thing. Amidst low public expectations of any change, it is safer to try more of the same.
‘Labour fear being depicted as ”soft” if they deviate from established policies. Lib Dems have always differed but been seen as sandal-wearing potheads as a result.
‘Many Tories are reluctant, as I was two decades ago, to abandon a ”tough” law and order approach.’
Last week official figures showed deaths from MDMA, cocaine and sleeping pills such as Xanax have spiralled up to 10-fold in a decade.
Office for National Statistics data showed drug fatalities had surged to their highest level since 1993, with 4,561 deaths in England and Wales registered last year
It was the ninth successive year that drug fatalities have risen.
It is worth remembering that this is a position he has held for a few years now
