'Put drugs in the hands of medical professionals and not the dealers' say campaigners

"I dont want any other family to go through what we did...drugs killed my sons." - Ray Lakeman

Regulating the use of drugs on the Isle of Man would help 'take the power away from criminals'.

That's according to two groups calling for the introduction of a safer system for those who use illicit substances.

A meeting - Isle of Man: Take Drugs Seriously - organised by Anyone’s Child: Families for Safer Drug Control took place in Douglas on Tuesday (10 October).

The aim? 

To start a conversation about the impact of drug use on the Island and how the Manx community could be better protected.

"I don't want any other family to go through what we did...drugs killed my sons." - Ray Lakeman

Ray Lakeman is a spokesperson for Anyone’s Child – his two sons died in 2014 after taking MDMA they’d bought on the dark web.

You can find out more HERE. 

"I spoke to them about drugs, their schools spoke to them about drugs, they got all the messages ...

but it didn't help them." - Ray Lakeman

Speaking at the meeting Mr Lakeman said it was his belief that current policy surrounding drug use hasn't worked for 50 years and needs to be changed. 

He was joined by Jane Slater the deputy chief executive of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation – they both believe existing policies are causing harm and are calling for a new approach:  

"Put drugs in the hands of medical professionals, not in the hands of dealers."- Jane Slater

Former MHK’s Martyn Perkins and Peter Karran both attended the meeting - they spoke to Chanelle Sukhoo:

"It's unregulated, it's dangerous.... and while the demand exists there's going to be a supply.

We need another approach." - Jane Slater

Paul Weatherall and Amanda Walker both stood, unsuccessfully, for a seat in the House of Keys at the last Isle of Man General Election.

They've described it as a ‘great tragedy’ that more people didn’t take the opportunity to attend the meeting held this week:

If you're interested in this story you can listen to the latest episode of Newscast by clicking HERE.