Ainsworth "gets it" on drugs... others don't

So Bob Ainsworth, former Defence Secretary and one time junior Home Office Minister has sanely said,

"It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation, to make the world a safer, healthier place, especially for our children.

We must take the trade away from organised criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists."

Quick off the blocks, the Tory press office for Andrew Griffiths, MP for Burton and Uttoxeter, the secretary of the APPG for the Misuse of Drugs and Alcohol, pumps out a quote,

'No wonder drugs policy was such a mess under Labour when a Home Office Minister wanted to legalise heroin. Drugs cause crime and can devastate communities. Ed Balls and Ed Miliband must distance themselves from these dangerously out of touch comments.'

A quick look at Portugal shows Griffiths' ignorance for what it is. They decriminalised everything and guess what, user rates declined. The idea that hundreds of people out there are gagging to take drugs but don't because it's illegal is utter nonsense.

The only one "out of touch" here is Griffiths. Ainsworth is saying what any sane person knows to be the truth.