There is only one way to solve a crisis like county lines and that is to legalise and regulate all drugs. – Arfon Jones, North Wales’s police and crime commissioner

Drug criminalization fuels the United States’ dual crises of mass criminalization and overdose deaths. The Portuguese experience demonstrates that decriminalizing drugs—alongside a serious investment in treatment and harm reduction services—can significantly improve public safety and health.- Widney Brown, managing director of Policy at Drug Policy Alliance

Countries that have ended criminal sanctions for possession of drugs have shown they have better health, social and economic outcomes, yet the UK government continues to have an evidence-free approach when it comes to the law around drugs. – Niamh Eastwood

Any approach to drugs has to be based on protecting health and human rights. It’s not about combating drug misuse—it is about respecting people as human beings.

Anti-abortion (laws) didn’t cause women to stop having abortions but upped their mortality rate, risk of damage to their bodies, shame, ridicule. See the parallel? When we make things illegal we tend to make them inherently more dangerous. If we simply accept laws as what is good for us we have many greater problems. Street drugs are dangerous because they are illegal and there is no quality control. Period, end of story.

The complicated problem of drug abuse won’t be solved with a combination of punishment and ignorance. And 70 cities around the world show that supervised drug-use sites make a difference.