Legalise cannabis, says report backed by Clegg: Deputy PM endorses paper which condemns war on drugs as costly failure and recommends smarter laws

Report: ' countries should conduct experiments in legalising cannabis'

Clegg among 21 academics and campaigners who signed the foreword

The report has been produced by the London School of Economics

His repeated calls for drug law reforms rejected by Tory Coalition partners

Nick Clegg has backed a report which suggests that governments should consider the legalisation of cannabis.

The Deputy Prime Minister has signed a foreword to the study which backs a programme of ‘rigorously monitored’ regulation of illegal drugs.

He endorsed the paper, which condemned the war on drugs as a costly failure and recommended ‘smarter’ drug laws.

Nick Clegg has backed a report which suggests that governments should consider the legalisation of cannabis

It said countries should be encouraged to conduct experiments in legalising cannabis, as long as they kept the price of the drug high and controlled its use by rationing.

Mr Clegg has been a strong critic of Britain’s drugs control laws. He has called for a Royal Commission to examine the law. In February during a visit to Colombia he promised new Liberal Democrat policies.

Mr Clegg is among 21 academics and campaigners who have signed the foreword to a report produced by the London School of Economics with support from financier George Soros’s pro-legalisation Open Society Foundation.

Report said countries should be encouraged to conduct experiments in legalising cannabis, as long as they kept the price of the drug high and controlled its use by rationing

The LSE report suggests policies including state control of sales, rationing, enforcement of high prices and provision of plentiful drug treatment services.

Mr Clegg’s repeated calls for drug law reforms have been rejected by his Tory Coalition partners.

The Home Office has protested that over the past decade cannabis use has been sharply down, indicating that the drug laws and official disapproval of cannabis are working.

Anti-drug campaigners said Mr Clegg was ignoring the dangers of cannabis, including its impact on mental and physical health.

The report, Ending the Drug Wars, written by an LSE ‘expert group’, is timed to try to build a wave of liberal opinion on drugs in advance of a United Nations conference on drug laws in 2016.

In the US, the state of Colorado allowed cannabis to go on sale at the start of the year at two dozen shops. State residents aged 21 and over are permitted to buy an ounce, and visitors a quarter ounce.

In March, UN officials warned that the commercial sale of cannabis in Colorado had led to increases in drug-driving accidents and drug-related hospital admissions. Some 18 US states have approved the medical use of cannabis. Uruguay is the only country to legalise cannabis fully, but it is still putting a sales regime into operation.

The LSE paper says: ‘The debate over how to legalise cannabis tends to assume that for-profit commercial enterprise is the default option.



Legalising cannabis on the alcohol model may, however, be the second-worst option (behind only continued prohibition).



Commercialisation creates an industry with a strong incentive to promote heavy use and appeal to minors through aggressive marketing.

A man is arrested at the London 420 Pro-Cannabis rally in Hyde Park last month. Mr Clegg's repeated calls for drug law reforms have been rejected by his Tory Coalition partners

‘No system of legal availability is likely to entirely prevent an increase in problem use.

‘But pioneering jurisdictions should consider alternative approaches including non-profit regimes and state monopoly.’

The study met with opposition last night. Mary Brett, of Cannabis Skunk Sense , said that only 2.8 per cent of adults aged 16 to 59 in Britain regularly take drugs and only 2.65 per cent are regular cannabis users.

She added: ‘Why would you want to legalise cannabis, which would only encourage greater usage? If you make cannabis legal, you are saying to young people that smoking it is OK.

‘The evidence shows strongly that using cannabis leads to lower IQ among young people, that it is linked to mental illness, heart attacks and other diseases.

‘Even the day after smoking a joint the ability to drive safely is impaired and the risk of an accident is doubled. If mixed with alcohol, the risk rises 16-fold.’