One of the gifts of recovery is enjoying the rights and responsibilities of being a productive & contributing member of society. One of the benefits of being an active citizen in the UK is being able to vote.
You can register here:
https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote
You can find out who your current MP is here
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mps/
ASK THEM AND THE OTHER CANDIDATES WHERE THEY STAND ON THE OTHER ISSUES THAT YOU CARE ABOUT MOST AND USE YOUR VOTE.
WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE ELECTION MANIFESTOS OF THE MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES IN THE UK AND PULLED OUT ANY REFERENCES TO POLICIES ON ADDICTION AND RECOVERY BELOW. PLEASE LET US KNOW IF WE HAVE MISSED ANYTHING YOU THINK SHOULD BE INCLUDED.
Conservative
Drugs – The Government has resisted calls to legalise cannabis.20 In 2016 the Government introduced a ban on ‘legal highs’, which mimic the effects of banned substances such as cannabis and heroin.21
Our naval vessels are stopping the vile trade in people and in drugs. 37
Prisons must become places of safety, discipline and hard work, places where people are helped to turn their lives around. They should help prisoners learn English, maths and the work skills they need to get a job when they leave prison, whilst providing the help prisoners require to come off drugs and deal with mental health problems. 45
We will ensure that commissioners sit on local health and wellbeing boards, enabling better co-ordination of crime prevention with local drug and alcohol and mental health services. We will build on the Policing and Crime Act, which introduced better co-ordination of policing and fire and rescue services, with greater devolution of criminal justice responsibility and budgets to local commissioners. 45
So we will create a national community sentencing framework that punishes offenders and focuses on the measures that have a better chance of turning people around and preventing crime, such as curfews and orders that tackle drug and alcohol abuse. 45
We will widen the role of police and crime commissioners to help them cut crime for their local communities. We will ensure that commissioners sit on local health and wellbeing boards, enabling better co-ordination of crime prevention with local drug and alcohol and mental health services. 45
We will improve the co-ordination of mental health services with other local services, including police forces and drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. 70
Labour
We will implement a strategy for the children of alcoholics based on recommendations drawn up by independent experts. 68
Border security is vital in preventing serious crimes including child abduction, people trafficking, smuggling of drugs and guns, terrorism and modern day slavery. 78
Labour will insist on personal rehabilitation plans for all prisoners… Prison should always be a last resort – the state’s most severe sanction for serious offences. It should never be a substitute for failing mental health services, or the withdrawal of funding from drug treatment centres. We will review the provision of mental health services in prisons.82
Liberal democrats
We need to do more to promote healthy eating and exercise, making people aware of the dangers of
smoking and excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs, and helping to improve mental health and wellbeing. 21
Introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol, subject to the final outcome of the legal challenge in Scotland. 22
The war on drugs has been a catastrophic failure. Every year, billions flow to organised crime while we needlessly prosecute and imprison thousands of people, blighting their employment and life chances, and doing nothing to address the impact of drugs on their health. Our current approach to drugs helps nobody except criminal gangs. For that reason Liberal Democrats will:
- End imprisonment for possession of illegal drugs for personal use, diverting
those arrested for possession of drugs for personal use into treatment and
education (adopting a health-based approach), or imposing civil penalties.
- Break the grip of the criminal gangs and protect young people by introducing a
legal, regulated market for cannabis. We would introduce limits on potency and
permit cannabis to be sold through licensed outlets to adults over the age of 18.
- Concentrate on catching and prosecuting those who manufacture, import or
deal in illegal drugs.
- Repeal the Psychoactive Substances Act which has driven the sale of formerly legal highs underground.
- Move the departmental lead on drugs policy to the Department of Health. 76
SNP
Sadly nothing in the 2017 manifesto.
In 2016 the SNP Conference overwhelmingly passed a resolution stating: “Where appropriate, cannabis should be decriminalised for medical use and available on prescription. Conference calls on the UK Government to devolve the power to decriminalise cannabis for medical use to the Scottish Parliament.”
Plaid Cymru
Cannabis – Leanne Wood spoke out in favour of the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes in March 2017. Plaid’s 2015 manifesto also called for the decriminalisation of cannabis and the party says police resources should be diverted into education programmes.
Alcohol – Plaid Cymru supports the introduction of a minimum pricing policy for alcohol.
Info on all the parties views from the 2015 Election can be found here