Playgrounds would become ‘crack dens’ if Greens were in power, policing minister says

Playgrounds would become “crack dens” under Green Party’s drug policy, a minister has warned.

Sarah Jones, the policing minister, branded the Greens’ position “reckless” during a public spat with Zack Polanski.

The two figures traded blows in the run-up to a by-election scheduled for next week in Greater Manchester.

Mr Polanski has championed a “public health approach” to drug-taking, arguing that “the war on drugs is failing”.

He urged Labour figures not to “make this a cheap, stupid game where people continue to die”.

The Green Party has previously campaigned to decriminalise drug possession, pointing people who face harms towards housing, employment and health support.

In 2024, the party proposed setting up a “regulated market” for drugs “that stops criminal supply and profiteering, and that reduces harm including by preventing children accessing drugs”.

But “these reckless plans would shatter communities across the country and tear apart the very fabric of Britain”, according to Ms Jones.

She added: “Polanski would unleash a drugs epidemic across Britain that would see our parks and playgrounds turned into crack dens.

“Let’s be clear about what that would mean – lives shattered, anti-social behaviour through the roof, and public drug use running rife.

“It’s deeply irresponsible to even suggest this idea and its families and young people in our communities who’d pay a very heavy price.

“Drug seizures are at a record high with Labour, as we tackle drug-related organised crime while investing billions in drug prevention and treatment.

“This is a common-sense approach to keep our communities safe and keep drugs off our streets.”

Hannah Spencer, the Green Party’s Gorton and Denton by-election candidate, has previously said she thought “decriminalising is a conversation that we need to have”, in an interview with the BBC.

She and Reform UK’s Matthew Goodwin are vying to topple the 13,413 majority which Labour won in 2024, with Labour’s Angeliki Stogia defending it in next Thursday’s poll.

Speaking outside his campaign’s headquarters in Gorton, Mr Polanski told PA: “For the Labour Government to be playing political games with people’s lives is totally unacceptable and what I think it speaks to, in places like Manchester, are why people are sick of the old establishment politics.

“They’re seeing people who aren’t taking issues seriously, who aren’t doing the things that need to be done to protect people, to take a public health approach, to make sure that children absolutely can’t go anywhere near drugs.

“Right now, children can often get drugs if they want – that’s a completely unacceptable situation.

“That’s why I’m saying very clearly, I want to legalise, regulate and control drugs and that’s a public health approach by public health professionals.”

Green Party leader Mr Polanski also said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the Government seemed “to be shouting lies about the Green Party”.

He said: “Take alcohol, for instance – we regulate it because we know it’s dangerous if anyone can get it, any time, and so it should be the same with drugs, taking a public health approach.

“It’s not about saying it should be fully accessible to everyone.

“It’s recognising that the war on drugs is failing.

“That’s not a contentious thing to say.

“All around the world when people have tried to have the same policy we’ve had with drugs, it hasn’t worked, and it’s not worked in this country.

“What I’m talking about, and this has been tried various ways around the world, including places like Portugal, where it’s reduced drug deaths, reduced HIV transmissions, and reduced what’s often labelled as antisocial behaviour, rather than allowing drugs to be in the hands of drug gangs or to be on the black market or in the streets.

“What you’re actually saying is, if someone has a problematic relationship with drugs, then they should go to a public health expert or someone in the National Health Service to get the expert help and advice that they need.”

Mr Polanski later added: “I’m saying, let’s have a sensible, evidence-based approach, led by health professionals, led by drug experts and let’s not make this a cheap, stupid game where people continue to die.”

In Oregon, US, the state legislature decriminalised the possession of small amounts of hard drugs in 2020, but rowed back almost two years ago.

Research by OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) showed the number of people who died from an overdose in the state more than doubled between 2020 and late 2023, many as a result of fentanyl use.

According to the Labour Party, the Greens’ proposal could lead to a doubling of drug deaths and open drug use in public spaces.