Matthew Rees / @MattRees99
Estimated read time: 5 mins
When it comes to cannabis, a strange dynamic exists in the UK.
Around 10 million British adults have tried weed at least once in their lifetime. Every 420, public spaces and parks are covered in a haze from people openly smoking zoots – often in front of a police presence. Meanwhile, a recent poll found that 52% of people support legalisation of the drug. In turn, it appears that the British public is already embracing the idea of being able to get high without being punished.
Yet, at the political level, cannabis is a taboo subject. Both major parties have refused to embrace the changing public mood, thus keeping in place a hard-line rhetoric symptomatic of the war on drugs. When a politician, like Michael Gove or Matt Hancock, admit to previous usage, they apologetically explain that it was a mere dabble and mistake relegated to their youthful past. If an MP is questioned on potential legalisation, the age-old excuse for ‘more evidence’ is routinely given. One only needs look at Labour’s Andy Burham, who argued that “I don’t think we want to see that type of change at this moment in time”. Reform is not a priority. Progress made in Portugal, Uruguay and the US is shunned.
Therefore, when Suella Braverman recently declared a desire to make cannabis a Class A substance, it exemplified a total lack of understanding towards the drug that dominates the British political conversation. Albeit an extreme case that No10 does not agree with, it represents a warped view of reality that has derived from a distorted political consensus.
Fundamentally, few want to engage in understanding why people smoke spliffs, eat edibles or require medical products. Little thought is given to the vast array benefits legalisation could bring to society. Instead, the year is 2022 and we are left with commissions into potential legalisation and a few MPs visiting Canada to examine its success.
Honestly, it is hard to reason with this denial.
A big part of this regressive attitude is embedded in a culture war. Smoking weed is still associated with laziness, criminality or hippy behaviour. If politicians allow this to become legal, it will signify a weakness at the ballot box. Nothing riles up British voters more than a militaristic conquest and allowing anything other than a ‘tough on crime’ ideology will lose voters.
This is further stoked by the unimaginable idea of allowing criminal gangs to operate legally. How can we legalise something that has heaped misery on children and victims of trafficking central to the functioning of the industry? Why should we allow people to take a drug that destroys livelihoods?
However, these arguments simply reiterate the need for legalisation. Take power away from criminal gangs through state-controlled regulation. Quality control products to ensure that usage is safe. Lead a public health campaign on the effects of weed. Speak with users who operate as perfectly functionable members of society on their experiences. Tax it fairly and reinvest in communities hurt most by prohibition.
It really is not that difficult to comprehend. And no, we will not suddenly see our streets filled with people high as a kite in a zombified state. As other nations have shown, legalisation and decriminalisation barely impacts the rate of usage. And even if it did, what is fundamentally different to the drunken behaviour that defines the booming nightlife of the British landscape? Why is drug use so much worse than alcoholism?
Sadly, in continuing to criminalise cannabis, the consequences are severe. Despite its casualisation in many cities, 14,894 people were prosecuted for cannabis possession in 2020. When you dig further, it is the most marginalised in society who suffer. Black people are 12x more likely to be arrested for possession than white people. Meanwhile, in August, a 60 year old woman with stage four cancer, who used cannabis to ease her pain, was arrested for selling it to her son and husband.
Often, the prominent argument for legalisation is financial. Progressive pundits argue it could generate economic growth. Yet, this is a hollow argument rooted in a capitalist ideology that has little concern for the victims of the drug war. Instead, social justice principles are needed along the lines of the grassroots social equity movement advocated in the US.
Reinvest the finances from the legal trade into repairing communities harmed by disproportionate incarceration rates. Prevent profiteering monopolies taking over the market. Spark police reform on drugs. Educate children properly on safe usage. Overturn the miserably failing medicinal approach that has seen just three patients prescribed THC in three years.
British politicians need to capture the public mood on cannabis. Continually ignoring this furthers an approach that has simply failed. Cannabis is not the big bad drug it is made out to be. It’s about time politicians grew up and saw what an alternative could bring to British society.
Matthew Rees 