November 4, 2005 10:29

Lemmy calls for heroin to be legalised

The Motorhead leader says its the only way to stop dealers

Motorhead frontman Lemmy has called on the Government to legalise heroin.

The singer used a Tory platform at the Welsh Assembly to voice his controversial message just hours before his band were due to go onstage at Cardiff University last night (Noveber 3).

Lemmy, who was invited by Tory AM William Graham to spread an anti-drugs message, said legalising "the single most destructive drug in the world" would wipe out dealers and stop criminalising young people, The Independent reports.

He said: "I have never had heroin but since I moved to London in 1967, I have mixed with junkies on a casual and almost daily basis. I hate the idea even as I say it, but the only way to treat heroin is to legalise it."

Lemmy, real name Ian Kilminster, was invited to speak about the drug by Graham's researcher Paul Williams following a recent Channel 4 documentary, Live Fast Die Old where the singer spoke about his hatred of heroin.

He added: "If it were on prescription, then at least two thirds of the dealers would disappear and you would have records of who was using it.
If a junkie has a regular supply, most are able to do a job. They will never rehabilitate until somebody - you - gives them a chance to."