Brian Paddick, the Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, has called for an overhaul of UK Drugs policy.

He said that the Government’s new Psychoactive Substances Bill “adds to the confusion and further undermines the credibility of UK drugs laws.”

His comments come during the Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Lords. Lord Paddick has branded the Bill unfit for purpose with huge unintended consequences.

“The reason why millions of people break the law by taking controlled drugs is because, quite righty, they see that our drugs laws lack credibility”, Brian Commented. This Bill further undermines the credibility of the drugs laws in this country.”

“It’s time we started treating those who misuse drugs as victims of drug dealers rather than criminals.

“It is time we confronted the fact that criminalising young people for possessing substances only as harmful, or less harmful, than alcohol or tobacco, lacks credibility.”

Bury Lib Dems will be hosting a few members meetings in the coming days:

Fundraising and Events Meeting- Thursday 18th June at 7:00pm

A group of members will be meeting at the Woodthorpe Pub (Bury Old Road, Prestwich M25 0EG). The meeting will involve discussion about how we can improve our fundraising methods as a local party and get together a list of our next round of events.

Member’s Meeting- Monday 22nd June at 7.00pm

The next meeting of Bury Lib Dem members will be taking place next Monday at the Radcliffe Civic Suite (Thomas Street, Radcliffe M26 2UH). We’ll be discussing our upcoming election campaigns and our fundraising and events programme. All members are welcome and it would be great to see another good turnout.

Human Rights Action Day- Saturday 27th June

Next Saturday, Bury Lib Dems will be running a campaigning day which will focus on raising awareness of the possible scrapping of the Human Rights Act, coinciding with the party’s national day of action on the issue. Two stalls will be set up, one running from 10am at the Prestwich Precinct until lunchtime and another one in Bury town centre (venue TBC). For this to be productive, we really do need as much help throughout the day as possible, even if it’s just for an hour so.

 

If you can attend any of these events or would like anymore information, please contact Michael Powell (07730 045287, organiser@burylibdems.net).