Decriminalisation the way forward
A REPORT by free marketeer think-tank Adam Smith Institute claims that a legalised cannabis market could potentially be worth £6.8bn annually to the UK economy.
This figure includes an estimated £750m-£1.05bn in additional tax revenues, and fewer costs relating to public administration of justice.
Report author Boris Starling said: “The advantages of a properly regulated marker far outweigh the disadvantages.”
The trouble is, we’ll end up with cartels jacking up prices and ripping people off, meaning many people will revert to the black market.
“The Tide Effect” was proudly championed by a certain Nick Clegg (who backed decriminalised status until he became a Yellow Tory).
He said: “Cannabis prohibition is being swept away on a tide of popular opinion and replaced with responsible legal regulation.”
Germany intends to legalise medicinal cannabis use in 2017, and Canada is making recreational use legal next year too. Portugal changed the law in 2001 to make drug possession for personal use an “administrative offence” in lieu of prosecution.
The report says regulation is “more desirable” than decriminalisation as it would remove the involvement of “gangs” in production. So instead, we’ll have a small minority of very wealthy people controlling prices and ripping off ordinary people. Happy days!
It also said a proportion of tax revenues will go towards the upkeep of essential public services, presuming current legal loopholes which already rob the public purse of tens of billions of pounds every year simply stop existing.
Norman Lamb – that bloke who was Lib Dem health minister for a while – has also given his unequivocal backing to the report.
Lamb says: “Prohibition is harmful and counter-productive, helping neither to reduce drug use nor the risks to public health.”
Cannabis should be completely decriminalised and (largely working-class) dealers should not be persecuted through the courts for their activities. And when inevitable decriminalisation comes around, we need legal protections for dealers and customers in essential areas of public life such as employment and housing.