Monday, June 24, 2019
Those hypocritical Tory MPs
'Do what I say, not what I do' could well be the new slogan of the Conservative Party. That is clearly the view of some campaigners, who have been calling for the liberalisation of Britain's drug laws.
As the Guardian reports, marchers from the Anyone’s Child group, who are walking along the Thames Valley and into London to meet MPs at Westminster on Tuesday, have branded Conservative politicians who have admitted taking drugs, as hypocrites:
Rose Humphries, the mother of two young men killed by heroin, said she hoped revelations that the former Tory leadership candidates Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom took cocaine and cannabis respectively many years ago would help change both political and public attitudes towards legalising drugs.
Despite their sons’ deaths from heroin abuse, Humphries and her husband, Jeremy, have joined the movement agitating for the legalisation and state regulation of all recreational drugs.
Humphries said: “On hearing that Michael Gove took cocaine, while his government [has since] continued the failed policy of drug prohibition I thought to myself – ‘what hypocrites’.
“But then if it starts to make people out there think about the current situation where every recreational drug is banned then maybe that revelation was a good thing. Because it’s not just about changing politicians’ minds but also that of the public.”
The couple’s younger son, Roland, died aged 23 in 2003. Eleven years later Jake, 37, also died from heroin abuse. Yet the couple, who are in their early 70s, are strong advocates for legalisation.
“It’s so obvious that after 50-plus years the policy of prohibition doesn’t work; a policy that costs lives,” Jeremy Humphries said. “In relation to Roland he was with other people when he overdosed and no one called for help because I believe they were afraid of being arrested for taking drugs as well.”
The Humphries, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, said their sons were “good people whom we brought up well”.
All the evidence points to the legalisation of cannabis and decriminalising possession of other drugs, coupled with tight regulation, as helping reduce addiction and criminal activity.
Maybe those Tory politicians who experimented when they were younger, but who now advocate harsh penalties for people who follow in their footsteps, need to take a reality check.
As the Guardian reports, marchers from the Anyone’s Child group, who are walking along the Thames Valley and into London to meet MPs at Westminster on Tuesday, have branded Conservative politicians who have admitted taking drugs, as hypocrites:
Rose Humphries, the mother of two young men killed by heroin, said she hoped revelations that the former Tory leadership candidates Michael Gove and Andrea Leadsom took cocaine and cannabis respectively many years ago would help change both political and public attitudes towards legalising drugs.
Despite their sons’ deaths from heroin abuse, Humphries and her husband, Jeremy, have joined the movement agitating for the legalisation and state regulation of all recreational drugs.
Humphries said: “On hearing that Michael Gove took cocaine, while his government [has since] continued the failed policy of drug prohibition I thought to myself – ‘what hypocrites’.
“But then if it starts to make people out there think about the current situation where every recreational drug is banned then maybe that revelation was a good thing. Because it’s not just about changing politicians’ minds but also that of the public.”
The couple’s younger son, Roland, died aged 23 in 2003. Eleven years later Jake, 37, also died from heroin abuse. Yet the couple, who are in their early 70s, are strong advocates for legalisation.
“It’s so obvious that after 50-plus years the policy of prohibition doesn’t work; a policy that costs lives,” Jeremy Humphries said. “In relation to Roland he was with other people when he overdosed and no one called for help because I believe they were afraid of being arrested for taking drugs as well.”
The Humphries, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, said their sons were “good people whom we brought up well”.
All the evidence points to the legalisation of cannabis and decriminalising possession of other drugs, coupled with tight regulation, as helping reduce addiction and criminal activity.
Maybe those Tory politicians who experimented when they were younger, but who now advocate harsh penalties for people who follow in their footsteps, need to take a reality check.
