Friday 30 October 2009

Less politics, more science please

Chris Grayling has said the sacking of the Government's chief drug advisor was "inevitable" following his latest ill-judged comments on cannabis reclassification.

I think what he should have said was

Chris Grayling has said the sacking of the Government's chief drug advisor was "inevitable" following their latest ill-judged comments on cannabis reclassification.

I'm a Conservative, I believe in freedom, I believe in personal responsibility and I believe that any government should think very carefully before deciding to reduce people's freedom to make their own decisions. On the issue of drug legislation, science and pragmatism seem to have given way to authoritarianism and dogma, and while this is hardly surprising from the government whose prime purpose seems to be the expansion of state interference in...everything, it is still sad to see.

Sadder to see is that the line being taken by the shadow Home Secretary isn't to slate Labour's actions and defend the practice of making decisions based on good science and what actually makes sense. By effectively siding with Labour on this matter he not only sets a very worrying precedent but also misunderstands the feelings of a lot of grass-roots members of the party who don't think that running government policy "by the red-tops" is the right way to govern.

But hey, the Conservative party is a broad church and there's room for a range of views, as long our policy positions continue to get debated then that can only be a good thing for everyone concerned.

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