Downing Street Says

Asked if the PM agreed with the DPM on drugs policy, the PMS said the PM had set out earlier this week what his views were. He did not support decriminalisation. We had a policy that was working drug use was coming down, the emphasis on treatment was right and we needed to continue with that to make sure we made a difference. The PM said we did need to do more to keep drugs out of our prisons and he did not support a Royal Commission.

Asked if the PM was relaxed about the DPM expressing his view, the PMS said that in a coalition there would be times when there were differences of opinion. But as far as the PM was concerned, he had made clear the policy was working.

Asked if the Coalition was disagreeing more often after splits on Leveson and the Comms Data Bill, the PMS reiterated that in a coalition there would be occasions when people had different views – that was made clear at the start of the Coalition Government.

Asked if the PM and DPM had spoken before the PM expressed his views, the PMS said they discussed many things together. Responding to questions on who the public should believe on drugs policy, the PMS made clear we had a government policy on drugs and the PM had said he thought it was working. He had acknowledged that we needed to do more, for example to keep drugs out of prisons.

Asked why the PM had changed his mind on decriminalisation, the PMS reiterated that the PM had set out his position clearly on Monday. He did not support decriminalisation. Asked if the war on drugs was failing, the PMS said the Government’s policy was working drug use was coming down.

Asked about why Home Office Minister Jeremy Browne was going around the world collecting a dossier of decriminalisation, the PMS said it was usual for government to keep polices under review and look at examples of policies in different countries.

Asked if the DPM spoke for the Government, the PMS said we had a government policy on drugs and it was the PM’s view that it was working. Asked if drugs policy was under review, the PMS said the PM had made his views clear on Monday. We needed to do more in some areas to make sure we made a difference. We kept policies under review but the PM’s view was that we had a policy that was working because drug use is coming down.

Asked why the PM had rejected a Royal Commission, the PMS said that a Royal Commission would take some time to set up and may not necessarily be the answer.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Friday, December 14, 2012

Drugs

No Comments »

Post a public comment

Search

Supported by

Recent Briefings

Archives

Links

Syndicate (RSS/XML)

Credits

Enquiries