Vince Cable, leader of the U.K.’s Liberal Democrat Party Bloomberg via Getty Images

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable has suggested a possible solution to the wave of street crime which has left 50 dead in London – legalising cannabis.

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The 74-year-old told LBC in an interview that by leaving the drug trade ‘to the underworld’, it created opportunities for criminals.

He also suggested that legalising cannabis could be a way of ‘reducing crime’.

In American states where weed has been legalised violent crime has dropped sharply, a study found earlier this year.


The researchers analysed FBI reports, and found that robbery fell by 19% in states with medical marijuana, murder fell by 10%, and murders related to the drug trade dropped 41%.



Speaking to Theo Usherwood on LBC, Vince Cable said, ‘The underlying problem is weak policing and lack of support for the police, serious deprivation in some areas with lack of facilities and lack of jobs. And then we, as a country, have a massive drugs problem, which nobody is willing to face.

Cable said that he, personally, was anti-drugs, but that prohibition was ‘making things worse’ on the streets.

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He said, ‘I’m very anti-drugs. I’m very puritanical about it. But the simple truth is that by turning over the marijuana trade to the underworld, it’s creating opportunities for them and it’s making things worse.

On legalisation, Cable said, ‘In our party’s manifesto, we looked at it very very carefully as a way of reducing crime.’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan hosted Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick at City Hall, where delegates held a minute’s silence in memory of victims.

Mayor Khan hosted a meeting to discuss knife violence Getty

Mr Khan has put various schemes in place to tackle violent crime, including a £45 million fund for young people at risk of getting caught up in violence and £15 million for the police specifically to tackle knife crime.

Schools and colleges are being given knife wands to help keep weapons off campuses, and all London borough councils have a knife crime action plan drawn up with the police.