Two weeks on from the most mis-read election in the history of elections. More mis-read than Brexit, more even than Trump. This was the landslide election that would wipe out Labour and wipe the smile of Jeremy Corbyns’ face.
The opposite is now true, Labour are strong, Tories are weak. But where does this leave the many promises of cannabis legalization touted by most parties?
The reality is nothing has changed. The debate was never going to be affected by an election, any regulatory change was and will still only come through a deep understanding of the true benefits against the long perceived and now generally debunked myths of the dangers and risks.
The economic argument is the most powerful since the chances of GWPharma being replicated across the pharmaceutical world is unlikely. The MHRA Ministry of Health has already indicated on-psychoactive cannabinoids will be considered food supplements. Without a medical cannabis program, the potential is a nutraceutical product with strong economic benefits.
Could legalising cannabis really raise £1bn in tax revenues as claimed by the Liberal Democrats?
George McBride, Crime & Justice Policy Director at VolteFace, a UK drugs policy think tank, told The Independent that although large companies who sell production-line machinery will be best placed to take advantage of legalisation in the UK, opportunities for startups that provide software to track crop data, for instance, would also be plentiful.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg claimed on Friday that legalising cannabis in the UK would improve public health, but warned of the “risks of unfettered commercialisation
According to the 2015/16 Crime Survey for England & Wales, there are around 2.1 million cannabis users in the UK, however, this is likely to be an underestimate as people tend not to be forthcoming when sharing information about illegal activity. It is also unclear as to whether these people are regular users.
Where do we go from here? in our opinion at CIITECH, the key is education, innovation and most importantly; continued mature discussion…. we’ll raise a glass to that!
