Government should legalise cannabis use, argues our columnist

There used to be a laminated sign in the communal corridor to my building in the St Peter’s area of Canterbury reminding residents that the use of illegal high drugs is, well, against the law.

I’m well aware of the tautologies in the sentence above, but perhaps they’re needed given the frequency with which drug law is ignored in this city.

A short trot down from St Peter’s Primary School in St Peter’s Grove is the Greyfriars Garden. Pop in there after school any day of the week and you’ll encounter groups of teenagers passing around long cigarettes containing the potent variety of cannabis called skunk.

It’s the same story at the Westgate Gardens and at the Dane John, a stone’s throw from Canterbury nick.

But making arrests is in fact the last thing on cops’ minds when they come across a cannaboid inhaler. Ordinarily, they’ll confiscate his stash and issue an on-the-spot drugs warning before letting him on his way to go back to his dealer’s pad to get some more.

It seems like an extraordinary way to deal with what, we are reminded, is still a crime. That’s probably because almost everyone has officially accepted that smoking a cheeky doobie in a park shouldn’t be illegal – it’s just that no legislator in this country has yet done enough to formally legalise cannabis use.

In this respect, Britain lags behind other countries. Holland has had its hash cafes for decades while Uruguay and Portugal are preparing to withdraw from the UN Convention on Drugs.

Seven states in the US, including California and Colorado, are pushing ahead with full-blown legalisation.

In Canada, similar legislation is being steered by former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, now an MP for the Liberal Party in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.

But Blair’s reasoning isn’t that Canada will become a hash-heads’ free-for-all – far from it, in fact. Blair believes that cannabis use in Canada will fall if it is legalised and properly regulated. In short, he wants to make drug use appear boring.

Much of cannabis’s allure stems from the fact that it’s illegal, that it’s edgy and cool. In Canterbury rebellious teenagers form little gangs around its use, looking upon themselves as criminals

‘Much of cannabis’s allure stems from the fact that it’s illegal, that it’s edgy and cool’

or even – laughably – as gangsters.

Smoking joints in public is a key component of their image. The message is: “Look at me. I’m a rebel doing something bad and I don’t care if the world knows.”

The Canadians envisage a state of affairs in which, while cannabis is legal, the authorities will officially disapprove of it. They will issue warnings about its use – just like they do for things like smoking tobacco, drinking and gorging on junk food.

Most important of all, those who develop problems from overuse will come across signposts directing them to advice services or treatment centres.

Legalisation, it is argued, will also raise the profile of those afflicted by mental health problems caused by the drug.

In January the hereditary peer Lord Monson mourned the death of his son and heir presumptive Rupert, who had been a heavy user of the ferociously psychoactive skunk variety. The 21-year-old died five days after trying to take his own life.

Lord Monson believes that if cannabis sale is regulated like alcohol, users will be able to choose between a variety of strengths and types. They will be able to buy their product from officially approved sources rather than shady dealers whose takings ultimately end up in the hands of the serious organised criminals who grow or import it. Lizzie Mcculloch, a policy analyst at the Volteface thinktank, contends that while cannabis remains technically illegal, problematic users are far less likely to get the treatment they need. “Even if people whose cannabis use had become a problem were more visible and it was easier to direct them to the help they require, cannabis remains a neglected drug in the UK’S public health discourse, resulting in limited support and guidance,” Mcculloch says. “Our report reveals how, among people showing signs of cannabis dependence, only 14.6% have ever received treatment, help or support, and only 5.5% have received this within the last six months. “Crack, cocaine and amphetamine users are also all more likely than cannabis users to have reduced their use after six months of treatment. By the nature of its illegality, cannabis users are a hidden population – a major problem in trying to target those within this group most in need of help.” The truth is that unless the government actually legalises cannabis use, we will be left hanging in this smoky limbo where it remains illegal, but no one is bothered about clamping down on it. That sign in the corridor of my building in Canterbury is gone now. Perhaps, too, is the message that drug use is illegal and will not be tolerated.

No legislator in this country has yet done enough to formally legalise cannabis use