We received a petition asking:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to legalise cannabis use and cultivation in the home,licence and regulate Amsterdam style coffeeshops.”
Details of Petition:
“Cannabis has the effect of pacifying users as opposed to alcohol fuelled aggression and violence tackled by police on most UK city and town streets on a weekend. Coffeeshops could be taxed and licenced and would give an alternative to alcohol hence liberating police time and costs. There will always be a minority with an opposing personal story/view no matter what the subject matter but they need to be kept in context with ratios of opponents to current legislation, eg fox hunting.”
· Read the petition
· Petitions homepage
Read the Government’s response
The Government’s message has always been that cannabis is a harmful and illegal drug that should not be taken. It has a number of acute and chronic health effects and prolonged use can induce dependence. Most cannabis is smoked and smoking, in any form, is dangerous. Even the occasional use of cannabis can pose significant dangers for people with mental health problems, such as schizophrenia, and particular efforts need to be made to encourage abstinence in such individuals.
The Government seeks to balance the rights of individuals on the one hand and the greater public health and welfare considerations on the other. In so doing it considers that it makes sense, on health grounds, for cannabis to remain a controlled drug whose unauthorised production (including cultivation), supply and possession are and will remain illegal.
There is therefore no prospect of the Government legalising cannabis to enable cannabis users to grow the plant in the home or facilitating the supply of cannabis in “coffeeshops”.
Legalising cannabis (to whatever extent and for whatever purpose) would run counter to the Government’s health and education messages. The message to all – and to young people in particular – is that all controlled drugs, including cannabis, are harmful and no one should take them. To legalise the possession of cannabis for personal consumption would send the wrong message to the majority of young people who do not take drugs on a regular basis, if at all, with the potential risk of increased drug use and abuse.
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