Boris Johnson’s new senior aides want to legalise cannabis in the UK The PM has reportedly hired a former policy adviser who supports legislation reform and said medicinal cannabis could transform healthcare

Two of the new senior aides reportedly appointed by Boris Johnson since he became Prime Minister have spoken out in favour of legalising cannabis in the past.



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According to a report in Buzzfeed, Mr Johnson has appointed Blair Gibbs, who formerly led policy at the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis, as a senior adviser, and Danny Kruger as political secretary.

Mr Gibbs has been a long-term supporter of reforming the laws around cannabis and has been outspoken about the issue in his former role.

The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis is a UK body for businesses operating in the cannabis-based medicinal product industry.

Support legalising cannabis

Mr Gibbs recently tweeted that medicinal cannabis could pave the way for a healthcare “revolution”, and said that the UK will eventually allow a “legal market for recreational cannabis”.

When the UK gets round to legislating to regulate a legal market for recreational #cannabis it will need to learn from other models but also devise one that fits its own culture and institutions best. This by @DanielPryorr is a good template: https://t.co/oithULacSx — Blair Gibbs (@BlairG1bbs) July 9, 2019

He previously worked as an adviser to Mr Johnson when he was mayor of London.

Mr Kruger, who has also been appointed to Mr Johnson’s top team as political secretary to the prime minister, has also recently written about the topic.

In an article for The Spectator in 2017 he suggested that the government should look into “the potential for a regulated market”.

“A brave step would be to commission a report looking at the impact on young people’s wellbeing of drugs — including the effect of illegality, and the potential for a regulated market,” he wrote.

“We do not need to ban everything bad. After all, the Victorians never prohibited alcohol. They regulated it, taxed it and hedged it about with a culture of disapproval.

Comments ‘do not reflect policy’

“In our own day, by the same means we have effectively stopped children getting access to booze, and reduced harmful adult use. Instead of the prohibition of cannabis we need an old Victorian virtue: temperance.”

The Conservatives have traditionally opposed the legalisation of cannabis, a policy supported by the Liberal Democrats.

But with a recent YouGov poll suggesting that the majority of most age groups support lifting the ban, there could be enough public support for a popular policy change for Mr Johnson.

His government has not, however, said that it intends to change the legalisation around this.

A Downing Street spokesman told i: “The UK Government has absolutely no plans to legalise cannabis for recreational use and the penalties for unauthorised supply, possession and production remain unchanged.”