DM - Legalise cannabis, says report backed by Clegg: Deputy PM endorses paper....

[edgarshade]

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

By Steve Doughty
Published: 00:27, 6 May 2014

With reader comments

• 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. 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.

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.

More...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-costly-failure-recommends-smarter-laws.html

 

[edgarshade]

Ahhh! Duped again. Please merge with "Economists Slam the War on Drugs in a New LSE Report" thread.

 

[neversickanymore]

this is great news.. If they are to be merged I think they likely should go under your original economist post.. I was not allowed to view the article cause they be slinging stuff rite, such is the world.. which makes BL SO refreshing

The tide has turned.. thank the lord and BL.. both work in such amazing ways.