Our Message

IMPORTANT - we are here to change the law not break the law, do NOT bring any illicit substances to the protest!

We are Voices for Smarter Choices, a group of individuals committed to evidence-based drug policy reform in the UK. Despite progress in other countries, the UK has continued to enforce a very punitive and repressive drug policy, which is inhumane and not supported by recent advances in science. We are organising this rally to demonstrate the public support for legislative change in the UK so that members of parliament are called to action and held responsible for their unresponsiveness to the pressing need for drug policy reform.

Our demands are:1. The decriminalisation of cannabis
In a world where many studies have demonstrated that cannabis is significantly less harmful than alcohol, it is ridiculous of the government to continue to waste taxpayer money on persecuting those that use it for recreational and medical purposes. Imprisonment for cannabis use disproportionately affects people of colour and ruins the lives of people who typically pose no harm to society. We advocate for decriminalisation over legalisation because we believe that legalisation and regulation can lead to government failure and delay in implementation. At the moment, the highest priority is to stop criminalising cannabis.
2. The rescheduling of LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA
As it stands, all three of these substances are Class A drugs; that is, according to the government, they have no recognized medical value. This statement is demonstrably untrue, as a number of peer-reviewed scientific studies have demonstrated that these substances are significantly more effective than existing treatments for a wide range of conditions, including PTSD, addiction, and treatment-resistant depression. As such, their scheduling must be changed. We cannot expect the public to take the government drug policy seriously when it puts magic mushrooms in the same category as heroin.
3. Expunge the records of anyone charged with cannabis possession
This demand follows from the first; truly pursuing decriminalization is consistent with freeing those who have been convicted of possession of cannabis and enabling them to return to normal life without the stigma of a criminal record or warning.We believe these are extremely reasonable demands based on the current scientific evidence, paving the way for more and better research into the potential benefits of these drugs, as well as more humane treatment of those who use them.