Methadrone

On monday the Advisory Council on Drugs Misuse reports to Jack Straw the Minsiter for Justice on whether Methadrone should be included within the current Misuse of Drugs Act as either a class A, B or C drug.

I have never used Methadrone nor do I have any particular desire to do so however I express my concern over a possible panic ban on the back of a few stories in the press.

In 2008 9,031 people died as a result of a legal drug called Alcohol and another legal drug Tobacco accounts for 80,000 deaths a year.

Banning Methadrone would not stop its use in fact it would just push it under ground leading to more danger for users as dealers cut it with other substances.

The other issue is that even if a ban does dry up supply it is only a matter of months before the chemists come up with a new legal high which may have even more harmful side effects.

Regulation to control the quality and doses of Methadrone would have a far less damaging effect on users.

Tories and VAT

A few years back prior to Labour winning the 1997 General Election I remember going out and campaigning against the Tory Government's plans to put Value Added Tax on domestic fuels.

There for it was interesting to read of Tory leaning Think Tank Reform www.reform.co.uk proposing that VAT be extended to areas such as Food and Childrens clothes.

Indirect taxation hits the weaker members of society the hardest as there have less disposable income the Tories have a pretty bad record of VAT increases.

It was Tory Governments that increased VAT from 8% to 15% and finally to 17.5%.

Whislt the the Tories pretend to be the party of low taxation the truth is far from with plans to give Inheritance Tax breaks to the richest 500 estates in the UK the Tories really can not be trusted when it comes to taxation.