Joshua Lachkovic: Conservatives should be for drugs law reform

Joshua Lachkovic is a freelance writer, blogger, libertarian and Conservative Future member.

There were just one or two members at the Liberal Democrat conference who voted against drugs reform. None of you will be surprised that our Coalition partners are in support of drugs reform. We know that Liberal Democrats are for drugs reform, but as Conservatives, we should be too.

"If we get this right we will have a chance to cut crime, save money, improve the health of the country and even save lives," said David Cameron in 2002 sitting on the Home Affairs Select Committee - and he was right.

Prohibition leads to crime. During alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, bootleggers created and controlled the black market. The same is true today with the drugs market. From creation and transportation, through to sale and then use, we criminalise each step. There are an estimated 2.87 million people in the country who take drugs each year, and 1.57 million people who take drugs at least once a month.

Drug users will always exist and in the eyes of the law, they are all criminals. In Portugal, where drugs were decriminalised in 2001, the rates for drug-related crime have dropped from 44% to 21% in ten years.