Decriminalising cannabis will be good for health and help fight crime

Most politicians studiously avoid talking about drug reform, particularly Conservatives, because it has always been a no-win scenario for us. This is because it always provokes quite a hostile reaction from the more Right-wing media, and because most Conservative members and voters (unlike Labour and Liberal Democrats) are pretty resistant to any notion of reform. The tough talk of cracking down and prohibition is held tightly, too, by social conservatives, despite the overwhelming evidence that it has failed to improve matters for individuals, families or their communities by almost any measure that would constitute success.

But the world is changing, and changing fast. Over the past decade, with an ever-quickening pace, countries have been reforming their laws to try to get a firmer grip on health, criminal justice and law-and-order issues that are rapidly escalating. Drugs in this country, as in so many around the world, are controlled by organised crime and by criminal gangs. They make huge profits from selling illegal drugs and protect their “industry” with violence, using knives and guns to fight off the competition. As we have seen in London, it has been a root cause of the deaths of many young people in recent years.

Last week I attended the launch of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group (CDPRG) and heard the heart-rending stories of families touched by drugs in a range of different scenarios. We heard also from Mike Barton, the recently retired chief constable of Durham police, who set out the challenge faced by officers. In an operation lasting several months that cost £500,000, he told us how he busted a drug ring and took 30 dealers off the streets. He then relayed how that operation managed to close the market for just four hours, before it reopened with armed, organised gangs moving into the vacuum created by the success of the police. He made clear his view that we cannot arrest our way out of the drugs epidemic convulsing our society.

Given the seeming futility of the battle that the police are fighting, is there a better way? Recently we have seen the tales of Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell, whose treatment-resistant epilepsy responds only to medical cannabis. Moreover, we have seen the NHS verify that there is strong evidence that other conditions, such as MS and the nausea and lack of appetite from chemotherapy, can also be treated in this way.

Chronic pain is another area where cannabis can be used but because of the stigma attached to cannabis we seem far more comfortable as a society prescribing legal but addictive opiates while demonising a far less addictive and dangerous alternative. Shouldn’t we be encouraging early and safe access to medicines derived from cannabis? Over the past 11 years the strength of recreational cannabis has doubled in Europe and now nearly all seizures of it are of high-strength THC cannabis. Pushers have increased the strength to create a more addictive and potent substance. There are also greater returns for every kilogramme smuggled.