Green Party wanting to legalise drugs.

[YorkieTheRabbit]

Maybe I’m not thinking this through correctly, so could anyone explain to me how legalising heroin would work.

It’s highly addictive, causes physical dependency and can damage to the body.

Then, who is supposed to be paying for the supply? Would it be taxpayers basically paying for people to become addicted then paying to treat the addiction?
I know that people will take drugs regardless but I just can’t get my head around this.
Surely the Greens don’t think that drug dealers will just shrug their shoulders and go and get a proper job 🤷‍♀️

Will they be delivered by deliveroo, along with a KFC?
Or will people be able to buy drugs from dodgy Dom down the road, who’ll pop round in five minutes with whatever you fancy,. Plus Dom will need to fill in a tax return. Or will people need to catch a bus to the nearest dispensary? The mind boggles

Are they planning on charging VAT the same as alcohol or will it be free on prescription?
Please excuse my rambling as I’m sleeping deprived but this really has me pondering.

I am also incredibly sceptical. Hopefully the greens will never get near power and we won't need to worry about the potential harms of this idea.

@Underthinker im hoping the same. Bizarre idea!

Who would pay for the supply? What? Do you understand that legalising something doesn’t make it free?

Polanski is a twit.

But I’m not sure why you think legalising would mean it would be free on prescription. Alcohol isn’t.

it’s an odd one. Supply would outstrip demand pretty quick. Meaning that the cost would come down and dealers would be lowering and lowering the price. The dealers would be trying to get younger and younger kids hooked on it

Decriminalisation is not the same thing as legalisation. Portugal did it but you still can’t go to a shop and buy heroin.

So heroin users won’t be prosecuted for having heroin on them but sellers can be.

Having said that I don’t think a lot of the supporters actually understand what Portugal did, having drugs is not illegal but it’s mandatory drug treatment iirc. You still not free to do drugs willy nilly.

I’m not a supporter of the Greens but I believe the basis of the decriminalisation argument is that addiction should be treated as a medical/public health problem rather than a legal one.

There are countries which have decriminalised possession of small amounts of drugs which have seen some positive outcomes but it needs simultaneous investment in public health initiatives.

Criminalising drugs has not stopped addiction and drug deaths.

Greens are proposing decriminalisation - NOT legalisation. Treating drug addiction as a public health issue rather than a criminal one. This kind of approach has reduced the harm caused by drugs everywhere that it has been implemented. See Portugal.

Don't they also want to legalise prostitution and porn?

The fact that anyone is giving them the time of day fills me with foreboding about the future.

A BBC interview with ZP from October last year says specifically legalisation.

Yes what a lovely place it will be. Just look how lovely and safe cities with unrestricted ( even if illega) drug use are! San Francisco is now a dump.

Banning or criminalising things doesn't stop people doing them. By treating addiction as a health or public health problem instead of a criminal problem, it addresses the actual issue.

There is an evidence based that this approach works. Surely the law should be evidence based, and actually work to make people's lives better, instead of being based on what people think is right or wrong?

The Greens views on the economy are even more terrifying than their position on drugs.

ZP thinks we can double our debt and it will be fine.

It would be Liz Truss on steroids x 1000.

Here's an excerpt from the BBC article from 2025. It does make me despair tbh - he sounds like he's lost his mind. Does he really think that if drugs are not illegal, they're no longer problematic?! Has he spelled out any kind of vision or costing for the "public health approach" that would be needed following such a radical change?

The leader of the Green Party says he wants to legalise all drugs, calling for an approach "led by public health experts, not politicians".

Speaking to BBC South East ahead of his party conference, Zack Polanski said he agreed with a Kent Green councillor, who earlier this year called for the legalisation of all drugs, including class A drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.

Polanski said "the war on drugs has absolutely failed, and ultimately we need to be having a public health approach".

When asked about implications of this for the taxpayer, he replied, "Well, I think voters are having to pay right now for a crime that happens, for the fact that people are in the illegal drug markets, for gangs that we see across county lines.

"All of this is a failure of the fact that, again, for far too long, Prime Ministers have stuck their heads in their sand and said, if we just make drugs illegal, everything's going to be okay."

And do you seriously think that the NHS will magically cope with the type of healthcare that would be needed for this approach to work? And what about those drug users that don’t want to engage. How do you feel about your kids having to run the gamut of druggies on their way to school? Or do you think the police will magically expand in numbers to deal with miscreants?

And is the idea that the state will manufacture ‘safe drugs’ to meet demand? Good use of our taxes? Or will you expect to see private sector move into this lucrative field?

Ideal world stuff.

This.
very worrying.

It sounds like what he means is the decriminalisation and public health model that Portugal adopted, but he is saying legalisation, which is ridiculous. In Portugal (which used to have one of the worst heroin problems in Europe), drug trafficking and selling is still illegal, you just won't get thrown in prison for using drugs (which perpetuates the cycle). You are put on a rehabilitation course instead.

I presume the OLD Green Party - you know the one, all about the environment, saving the planet etc. - is no more and, probably being set up by a bunch of easy-going hippies, didn't have the sort of watertight Constitution / Articles of Association (or whatever defines a political party) that would keep it focused on the environment. Instead it let the entryists in, who promptly ditched the environment and are now all for

1. Legalise all drugs (including date-rape drugs)
2. No more landlords
3. Get rid of nuclear weapons and assume Putin will do the same if asked nicely
4. Transwomen are women
5. Ramp up public spending and tax the rich to pay for it all

It's like a bunch of student activists on steroids.

They've been doing it in Portugal for a quarter of a century. Drug use did not increase, but the social costs of it decreased.

It is an idiotic proposal. Legalising these drugs will legitimise them, when they are incredibly addictive and can be life and community destroying. I think he should speak to families which have been ripped apart by drugs- they are not just fun things for the cool kids to do on weekends. What is the benefit of legalising them? I can think of many downsides. It is at odds with the move towards removing cigarettes as an available product. Do the Greens have any family friendly policies at all? Does Zach care about communities and safety for children? He is just as bad as Farage, just on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Would decriminalisation help with lowering the recruitment of children eg county lines ?

I assume the basic principle is that if all involved are consenting, what business is it of the state to intervene and say it’s wrong?

But yes, the Green party these days is a joke. Can't take them seriously.

As I understand it, Zach is literally proposing a scenario where you can set up a heroin, crystal meth and date rape drug shop on the high street, and any 18 year old can walk in and purchase products. I think this is different to where the police do not prosecute drug addicts. Am I wrong about that?

Well the current system of drugs being illegal doesn’t work does it - they are everywhere - people get them if they want them and it causes all sorts of issues with gangs etc supplying the drugs / drug mules etc

nothing will stop it

theres heaps of evidence that decriminalisation of drugs is a much better system.