What can a German do but a Briton cannot? What can a New Yorker, a Chicagoan and a San Franciscan do, but a Londoner cannot? What can Canadians, Dutch, Portuguese, Chileans, Uruguayans, Maltese all do? The answer is they can legally smoke cannabis. In California there are now courses for cannabis sommeliers. In Britain they would be thrown in jail.
Half a century ago, Britons prided themselves on being in the vanguard of social progress. In such matters as health care, sexuality, abortion, crime and punishment, they considered their country ahead of the times. Now it limps nervously in the rear.
I don’t use illegal drugs, neither am I addicted to nicotine or alcohol or fatty foods. Having sat on two drugs-related committees, I accept that narcotic substances can, in varying degrees, cause harm to their users and, through them, to others. If after half a century of a “war” on drugs, banning had solved or even reduced this harm, I could see the argument for banning. It has not.
Roughly a third of adults in England and Wales aged under 60 have tried cannabis. Almost 8% use it occasionally and 2% regularly. Far fewer use hard drugs. But nearly one in five residents of English and Welsh prisons are estimated to have been jailed for a drug-related offence. Half of all homicides are drugs-related. In many prisons, more than half the inmates use drugs regularly. The authorities turn a blind eye for the sake of peace and quiet.
Successive home secretaries have a terror of even discussing the issue. Tony Blair delegated drugs – as so much of his policy – to the Daily Mail and the Sun. While other countries researched, experimented and piloted innovation, Britain simply shut down debate. When, in 2009, the government’s chief drugs adviser, Prof David Nutt, evaluated the relative harm of different narcotics, he was sacked.
Uh… recreational cannabis is not legal in Texas yet. Might want to pick another state.
When, in 2009, the government’s chief drugs adviser, Prof David Nutt, evaluated the relative harm of different narcotics, he was sacked.
That struck me as stupid at the time and only gets worse over time as more evidence emerges for the use of cannabis for epileptic kids, the success of prescribing heroin to addicts, using Ecstasy for PTSD, etc all of which have faced a real uphill fight and usually failure. All that before we even get around to decriminalising softer drugs.
Successive home secretaries have a terror of even discussing the issue. Tony Blair delegated drugs – as so much of his policy – to the Daily Mail and the Sun.
The right wing press have pretty much had every government running scared of the subject but their influence is waning. However, I can’t see Starmer doing much except in the edge cases where there is clear medical benefit.
Definitely legalise but ‘learn from texas’ should never be used in anything but a cautionary tale
It just surprises me how there seems to be almost no discussion about legalising weed in the UK. It’s really not talked about that much (besides medical use), and I don’t see much push for it either.
I think the government/police are generally happy to ignore it, and smokers are therefore happy to just get on with it.
Would be nice and convenient if I could just buy it from a store though :/
Seems like an open goal in terms of reducing the 22bn “black hole” as well as funding the nhs. The fact the UK is also one of the largest producers makes it make even less sense.
Why won’t they just take the shot?
Nothing I would disagree with. Sound thinking and a well written piece. However, this needs to be published in the Telegraph, Daily Mail, Mirror, and the Sun rather than the guardian for it to do any good and change attitudes. Next the guardian will be telling us that champagne tastes nice 😊.
