Labour attack on Lib Dem drug policy slammed as medieval

Drug law reformers have accused Labour of adopting medieval tactics and underestimating the intelligence of voters by putting out an official leaflet declaring: “The Lib Dems: soft on crime, drugs and thugs.”

The leaflet attacks the Liberal Democrats for cutting 17,000 police officers, making it harder for forces to use DNA evidence and for “weakening powers used to monitor terror suspects” – a reference to the decision to replace control orders.

But it is the attack on Nick Clegg’s manifesto pledge to end the imprisonment of 1,000 people a year for possessing drugs solely for personal use that dismays drug law campaigners in the face of growing political consensus over decriminalisation.

The leaflet, to be used in Labour-Lib Dem marginal seats, says: “They would end prison sentences for drug possession – even for the hardest drugs like heroin and crack.”

Danny Kushlick, of the Transform drugs charity, expressed anger about Labour’s leaflet. “You wait for five years and turns out drugs don’t warrant a considered policy, they’re just a stick to beat opponents with,” he said.

“We weren’t expecting them to take a progressive position, but this is
positively medieval – imprisonment for possession. And it’s working-class
people from Labour heartlands who’ll suffer. They should be ashamed of themselves.”

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He added: “It’s not about supporting the Lib Dems, it’s about having some decency and compassion for the marginalised and disadvantaged.”

The veteran Labour drug reform campaigner, Paul Flynn, the party’s candidate for Newport West and a former member of the Commons home affairs select committee, was equally alarmed.

“We seem to be reverting to the dark days of Peter Mandelson and the Littleborough and Saddleworth byelection back in 1995 … when they accused the Lib Dem candidate, who went on to become the MP and later an MEP, of being a drug-dealing fiend, while the Labour candidate apparently had gone through the National Union of Students without a crease on his knickers,” said Flynn.

“The response from the electors in Littleborough and Saddleworth was to congratulate the Lib Dem for being caught in possession of an intelligent idea and they punished Labour for implausible sanctity. We are going back to that time again.

“They are underestimating the intelligence of the electorate and it is a self-defeating comment to make. Why do we have to get down to this level?”

The Lib Dem former drugs minister, Norman Baker, said: “Labour are reverting to type and, despite all they’ve said, actually turning their back on progressive, sensible, evidence-based reform.”

Political consensus has been growing towards decriminalisation of personal drug possession, with an official Home Office report recognising for the first time the value of a Portuguese experiment.

The government’s own advisory council for the misuse of drugs has said it would be better if the tens of thousands of people caught with illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine, were sent on drug education and awareness courses rather than punished with fines and other penalties up to imprisonment. The World Health Organisation has also called on governments to consider alternatives to incarceration.

Clegg has said it is nonsense to waste the scarce resource of prison cells on those caught in possession of cannabis and other drugs. Instead, he said, they should be given non-custodial sentences and directed towards treatment.

Labour said: “Labour will ensure drugs policy is based on what works, preventing people taking drugs in the first place and dealing with addiction.

“The Lib Dems should answer for their policy, which would mean removing the option of prison for someone repeatedly found in possession of dangerous class A drugs, such as heroin and crack. These drugs tear families apart and ruin lives. And they should explain why under this government drugs treatment has become much harder to access.”