Production and supply of cannabis should be policed and remain criminal, whilst possession of small quantities for personal use would not be penalised, according to a report by a London Drugs Commission.
The legal regime should move natural (not synthetic) cannabis from the Misuse of Drugs Act to the Psychoactive Substances Act, the Commission recommends. Lord Charlie Falconer, chair of the Commission, said: “This is the most extensive consideration of what is the correct public policy response to cannabis in recent times. It is clear that a fundamental reset is required. Legalisation is not the answer. The criminal justice system response needs to focus only on the dealers and not the users. Those who suffer from the adverse effects of cannabis – which may be a small percentage of users but it is a high number of people – need reliable, consistent medical and other support. And there needs to be much more education on the risks of cannabis use. Our Report provides detailed recommendations on how the law needs to change to reflect a new focus for the criminal justice system, and how the response of the public and other sectors can better support those damaged by cannabis use.”
About the report
The Commission was set up by the Mayor of London, now Sir Sadiq Khan, in May 2022. It took written and oral evidence from over 200 experts and academics from London, the UK and around the world. Lord Falconer and his deputies were assisted by figures from criminal justice, public health, community relations and drug policy; and supported by academics from University College London (UCL). For the report in full visit https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/mayors-office-policing-and-crime-mopac/mopac-governance-and-decision-making/london-drugs-commission.
Comment
For the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, APCC joint leads on Addictions and Substance Misuse, Durham and Dorset PCCs Joy Allen and David Sidwick said: “While we recognise that this is an issue where some PCCs may take different views, as the APCC’s Addictions and Substance Misuse leads, we disagree with the Commission’s recommendation that possessing a small amount of cannabis should be decriminalised. We will now be consulting further with our PCC colleagues to discuss and develop our approach.
“As this report recognises, cannabis is a harmful drug that has serious adverse effects on its users. It also rightly concludes that legalisation, as we have recently seen in other jurisdictions, would increase the availability of this harmful drug and could significantly amplify the health and mental health risks.
“We believe that decriminalisation could carry similar risks by making people more likely to use cannabis. In addition, under these proposals, cannabis would continue to be supplied by drug markets that are run by criminals, bring violence and anti-social behaviour to our communities, and exploit the vulnerable, including children and young people. Furthermore, these recommendations would create confusion and result in increasing subjectivity by officers determining what ‘a small amount’ is defined as, or knowing the difference between ‘natural’ cannabis and ‘synthetic’ cannabis.”
