Labour chiefs blast ex-minister for call to legalise hard drugs

Former Labour minister Bob Ainsworth was slapped down by his party today after calling for all drugs — including heroin — to be decriminalised.

It came after Mr Ainsworth became the most senior politician to suggest that decriminalisation be considered. The Coventry North East MP, who served as drugs minister under Tony Blair, said the war on drugs had been "nothing short of a disaster" and argued that doctors and pharmacists should be put in control of supply.

"Leaving the drugs market in the hands of criminals causes huge and unnecessary harm to individuals, communities and entire countries, with the poor the hardest hit," he said.

"We must take the trade away from organised criminals and hand it to the control of doctors and pharmacists."

Mr Ainsworth said billions of pounds were being spent "without preventing the wide availability of drugs". "It is time to replace our failed war on drugs with a strict system of legal regulation, to make the world a safer, healthier place, especially for our children," he said. Mr Ainsworth insisted that he was "not a libertarian" and that people should not be encouraged to use substances.

But his calls for a "grown-up debate" fell flat as a senior party source distanced Mr Miliband from the ideas.

"They are irresponsible comments and they are miles away from what Ed Miliband and the Labour Party thinks," the source said. "I do not know what he was thinking when he made these remarks."

A Labour spokesman added: "These comments do not reflect the views of the party, the leader or the public." Bassetlaw MP Mr Mann, who carried out a study into hard drug use in his constituency when Mr Ainsworth was drugs minister, said: "He didn't know what he was talking about when I met him with my constituents during my heroin inquiry and he doesn't know what he's talking about now."

Crime prevention minister James Brokenshire said legalisation was "not the answer" because it fails to address the reasons behind drug use.

"Decriminalisation is a simplistic solution that fails to recognise the complexity of the problem and ignores the serious harm drug taking poses to the individual.

"Legalisation fails to address the reasons people misuse drugs in the first place or the misery, cost and lost opportunities that dependence causes individuals, their families and the wider community."