Virgin founder Richard Branson has made controversial remarks about the legalisation of prostitution and drugs.
The 65-year-old was part of a panel discussing drug policy at the International Crisis Group and Foreign Affairs yesterday in New York when he revealed that he would encourage both drugs and prostitution to be legalised.
He backed up his claims by using South American countries as an example of legalisation combatting crime surrounding both subjects.
Mr Branson said: "The research that we've done has indicated that if you talk about treating drugs as a health problem, not a criminal problem, would you want your brothers and sisters or your children to go to prison or would you want them to be helped?
“Overwhelmingly, you'll get 95% of the public will say we want to treat it as a health problem, not a criminal problem. And that's the first major step to be won. And one I would suggest the politicians push. And that should be all drugs, not just marijuana. Treat all drugs as a health problem, not a criminal problem."
He added: “If you legalise everything, then there's nothing left for them to traffic. And there is an argument for it. There are good Catholic countries like Chile that have legalised prostitution. And I know it's very controversial. Most people would put their arms up in horror. But by legalising it, they got rid of the pimps.
“The girls are monitored properly to make sure that they are healthy, to make sure they can come forward if they've got a problem. And they believe a lot of the illegal trafficking of young girls has gone away. If you were to do that, then there is not a lot left. They can go into a few banks, but there's not a lot of cash in banks anymore. So hopefully, we've sorted out the problem.”
Branson isn’t the only public figure to call for prostitution and drugs to be made legal.
Helen Mirren has been open for laws surrounding prostitution to be reformed whilst Embarrassing Bodies’ Dr Christian says he thinks health problems could be tackled by legalising drugs.
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