Who’s for and Who’s Against.
Introduction
As you know, our goal is to get the laws regarding cannabis changed in the UK, and a big piece of this is politics. In order for the law to change it needs to be agreed upon in Parliament, so remember next time there is a General Election and be sure to make your vote count!
But where do the various parties and their leaders stand when it comes to legalising cannabis in the UK? Here’s a brief rundown of a few of the bigger parties and their views on the subject.
Boris Johnson (Conservatives)
Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Boris has one of the biggest personalities in politics today. Our current PM has dabbled with recreational drugs during his school years. He has been quoted as saying that he found his experiences of recreational cannabis to be “Jolly nice”
Despite this, he has also said that he’s become more of a prohibitionist in later life. When asked about the Government looking into changing the law regarding cannabis he said “I think drugs are bad, I really do. I hesitate before moving to some glib solution of legalisation or deregulation.”
The Conservative party supports the current drug prohibition policies.
Keir Starmer (Labour)
Sir Keir Starmer was elected to be the leader of the Labour Party in April 2020 after Jeremy Corbyn resigned.
As leader of the opposition, you’d like to imagine he would oppose the government’s view on the current drug policies, but sadly this is not the case.
In February 2021 he was asked about decriminalising cannabis on Sky News, to which he replied “I’ve never subscribed to that view”. He went on to say that he had seen “too much damage” in his past roll as a prosecutor.
In complete contrast however is Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. Mr Khan is also a member of the Labour party but has been very vocal in wanting to run small scale tests of decriminalising cannabis in London.
Despite obviously mixed views across the party, the official labour stance on the subject is that they are also in favour of the current prohibition policies.
Ed Davey (Liberal Democrats)
Sir Edward Davey has been the Leader of the Lib Dems since 2019. Before he became leader he had previously spoken out in favour of medicinal cannabis.
The Liberal Democrat party is a bit of an outsider in the world of politics, having only ever held power as part of a coalition government.
The party is however completely in favour of a legal and regulated cannabis industry.
I feel that the Liberal Democrat party’s view on cannabis legalisation most closely matches the Daze of Hope goals.
Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay (Green)
The Green Party of England and Wales (to give it it’s proper name) is unique in that it has two co-leaders. These are Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay.
Both leaders were elected in October 2021, replacing the previous co-leaders Jonathan Bartley and Siân Berry. Jonathon has held the position since 2016, with Sian replacing Caroline Lucas, the previous co-leader, in 2018.
Neither has ever spoken publicly about their personal views on cannabis reform.
According to the Green Party manifesto, the party aims “to end the prohibition on drugs and create a system of legal regulation to minimise the harms associated with drug use, production and supply as part of an inclusive, supportive, socially just society”.
Conclusion
It’s a real shame that neither the Conservative or Labour parties have a more enlightened view on cannabis reform as they are most likely to win the next election.
As I said above, The Lib Dems vision of a regulated recreational cannabis industry matches most closely the goals of Daze of Hope. So I think that regardless of how you usually vote, if you want to see recreational cannabis legalised then putting your cross in the Liberal Democrats box is possibly the best idea.