19/10/2026
Andy Burnham's first comment on drugs policy as PM has been to reject decriminalisation. This new Transform blog analyses the comments; highlighting the contradictions in his position, urging him to change course, explaining why, and offering our support when he does.
"It is important to be clear that if you don't support decriminalisation - you are supporting criminalisation.
That means you are supporting the arrest, punishment, criminal records, and even potential incarceration, for around 33% of the adult population, or 18 million people, who are using, or have used a drug prohibited under the MDA (including Andy Burnham).
And if you advocate for mass criminalisation, you are also implicitly willing to tolerate how the greatest burden of criminalisation harms is carried by the most socially and economically marginalised individuals and communities; poor people, young people, people from racialised minorities, and people living with drug dependence and homelessness.
It is a reality that makes Burnham’s rejection of decriminalisation all the more untenable and misaligned with his wider social justice narrative. His USP has always been fighting for the marginalised - but here he is advocating a failed policy that overwhelmingly impacts on them.
Punitive drug enforcement is a key vector of social injustice, and one that incurs vast opportunity costs for health and social programmes, from the billions such punishments cost to administer each year. "
read the full analysis here:👇
exploring the contradictions in Andy Burnhams recent comment rejecting drugs decriminalisation
