UK Green party leader Zack Polanski backs legalisation of all drugs

The leader of the Green Party says he wants to legalise all drugs, calling for an approach "led by public health experts, not politicians".

Speaking to BBC South East ahead of his party conference, Zack Polanski said he agreed with a Kent Green councillor, who earlier this year called for the legalisation of all drugs, including class A drugs like heroin and crack cocaine.

Polanski said "the war on drugs has absolutely failed, and ultimately we need to be having a public health approach".

When asked about implications of this for the taxpayer, he replied, "Well, I think voters are having to pay right now for a crime that happens, for the fact that people are in the illegal drug markets, for gangs that we see across county lines.

"All of this is a failure of the fact that, again, for far too long, Prime Ministers have stuck their heads in their sand and said, if we just make drugs illegal, everything's going to be okay."

The Green Party of England and Wales is gathering in Bournemouth for their first autumn conference under a new leadership team which also consists of deputy co-leaders Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward, the current deputy leader of Wealden District Council.

The party has seen growing success in local council elections in parts of Kent Sussex and Surrey in recent years, including in previously Conservative-voting areas like Wealden, Reigate and Maidstone.