Youth and Students Page

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Introduction

The Liberal Democrats are the only party in the UK dedicated to fighting for people's rights. Iain Duncan Smith's Conservatives and the Labour party have become increasingly authoritarian and intrusive; some of our most basic liberties are now at the discretion of politicians and the police.

We have fought against the Asylum and Immigration Act, against child curfews and the erosion of basic rights guaranteed by the legal system. We have campaigned for the introduction of credible human rights legislation. And we have stood up for the right to basic welfare for people with disabilities, single parents and young people.

Liberal Democrat Youth and Students (LDYS) is leading the campaign for the abolition of tuition fees and Section 28. LDYS believes that both these policies are disgraceful. To find out more about our campaigns to abolish tuition fees throughout the UK click on the link.

ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE GROWING CAMPAIGN TO GET FEES SCRAPPED - SIGN OUR ONLINE PETITION

LDYS is also a leading campaigning organisation. Liberal Democrat Youth and Students is the fully autonomous Youth and Student branch of the Federal Party of the Liberal Democrats (UK). Visit the website of LDYS to find out more about Liberal Democrat youth and student policy and to join our growing youth and student movement.

Need material for a school mock election the visit www.mockelection.org.uk/

Youth and Student Manifesto

You can read the Liberal Democrats Youth and Student manifesto by clicking here

Drugs

The following is the policy of the main Liberal Democrat party on Drugs. The Liberal Democrats are continuously consulting over changes to their crime, policing and drugs policy. Feedback from the public through our special website will help Liberal Democrat Youth & Students contribute to this process.

The motion below was recently passed by the Liberal Democrat Conference. To understand the rationale behind it read the speech by Simon Hughes MP in proposing it. Click here.

Manchester Conference - 9 March 2002

Conference notes:

i) The failure of successive Governments to tackle effectively the range of problems associated with legal and illegal drug use.

ii) The publication in March 2000 of the Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, chaired by Dame Ruth Runciman.

iii) The lead given by the Liberal Democrats in pursuing a responsible approach to drugs policy since calling for a Royal Commission on Misuse of Drugs in 1994.

Conference therefore welcomes Policy Paper 47, Honesty, Realism, Responsibility, as a development of the Partys policy on drug use and its response to the Runciman Report, and in particular, endorses the proposals to:

1. Place policy making in the drugs field on a much firmer evidence-based footing by:

a) Re-establishing the existing Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs as a standing Drugs Commission with a wider range of expertise, greater independence from the Government, and a remit to look at social effects and abuse of legal drugs including alcohol, tobacco and solvents as well as currently illegal drugs.

b) Giving the Drugs Commission the task of advising the Government on appropriate scheduling of drugs and policy responses on a continuous basis.

c) Requiring the Drugs Commission to conduct a major audit of the extent and social and economic costs of the drugs problem in the UK and the effectiveness of policies to tackle it.

d) Seeking to initiate a European level review of the drugs problem and the range of policy responses with a view to securing renegotiation of UN Conventions on Drug Trafficking.

2. Break the links between cannabis use and organised crime and release police resources for higher priority tasks by:

a) Re-classifying cannabis as a Class C drug.

b) Adopting a policy of not prosecuting possession for own use, social supply to adults or cultivation of cannabis plants for own use.

c) Repealing Sections 8 (c) and (d) of the Misuse of Drugs Act so that it is no longer a crime for the occupier or manager of premises to permit someone to use cannabis on those premises.

d) Permitting medical use of cannabis derivatives, subject to appropriate pharmaceutical controls and the successful conclusion of current clinical trials.

e) In the longer term, seeking to put the supply of cannabis on a legal, regulated basis, subject to securing necessary renegotiation of the UN Conventions.

3. Reform excessive and counterproductive criminal penalties by

a) ending the use of imprisonment for possession for own use of illegal drugs of any class.

b) Re-classifying ecstasy from Class A to Class B, but not re-classifying it further unless recommended by the Drugs Commission subject to evidence on long-term health effects.

c) Amending sections 8 (a) and (b) of the Misuse of Drugs Act as recommended by Runciman so that occupiers or managers of premises only commit a crime if they knowingly and wilfully permit the supply or production of illegal drugs on those premises.

4. Promote a more effective policy to reduce drug dependency and its adverse consequences by:

a) Developing specialist heroin treatment clinics where heroin or heroin substitutes can be administered under controlled conditions, with other medical treatment and testing, and counselling and withdrawal programmes available, with the long-term aim of making such services widely available.

b) Allowing GPs to prescribe short term or emergency maintenance doses of addictive drugs, particularly diamorphine hydrochloride (heroin), to remove the dependence of any new or existing addicts on criminal suppliers.

c) Repealing section 9A of the Misuse of Drugs Act to allow harm minimisation programmes to distribute drug paraphernalia such as safe tourniquets, as recommended by Runciman.

d) Subject to a successful assessment of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders, and piloting of Drug Abstinence Orders, extending the use of drug treatment and testing as an alternative to other criminal sanctions.

e) Re-allocating resources towards making treatment and rehabilitation facilities and programmes more generally available.

5. Crack down on illegal drug trafficking and drug affected driving by:

a) Introducing a new offence of ‘dealing’ as recommended by Runciman to allow more effective action against those proved to be supplying illegal drugs over long periods of time.

b) Allowing the selling of drugs near schools, psychiatric facilities and other sensitive locations to be an aggravating factor in sentencing, as recommended by Runciman.

c) Supporting the current Proceeds of Crime bill to facilitate confiscation of criminal assets.

d) Launching a public information campaign on the dangers of drug-affected driving, and encouraging the police to carry out roadside sobriety testing of suspected unfit drivers when appropriate.

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