Last Updated on 6th February 2020

Arfon Jones, the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, believes that people should be allowed to grow small amounts of cannabis in their homes.

In 2017, Jones visited Portugal to learn about their decriminalization model as well as Uruguay. These experiences gave him insight into how to properly regulate cannabis in the UK.

The UK’s attitude needs to change

“In my policing career I have never met anyone who has caused violence through cannabis, as opposed to the hundreds of violence cases I have seen related to alcohol, which is a legal substance,” said Arfon Jones.

“The penny dropped for me many years ago and I thought ‘why are we doing all this?’ I know many people who use cannabis both medicinally and recreationally – they hold down good jobs and are good people.”

Jones along with Cambridge University helped launch Checkpoint Cymru in North Wales. This is a programme designed to help low-level offenders move away from criminality through a four education course instead of a conviction.

The programme has so far been successfully trialled in Durham.

Home grows are the future

Jones believes that, from what he’s seen abroad, increasing availability is the key to reducing organized crime.

“The best way to reduce the role of organised crime in the supply of drugs is to put it in commercial hands and to price it appropriately so people don’t need to go to the illegal market.

“My view is that people should be allowed to grow a limited number of cannabis plants for their own use. Let’s face it there are probably hundreds of thousands of people in this country who grow cannabis in their own homes now.

“They’re not harming anybody else and there is no reason why they should be punished through the criminal justice system.”