Legalising cannabis would be the ultimate Conservative policy
What if you were in the running to be the next leader of the Conservatives, and I told you that with a single popular policy, you could return your party to its traditional pro-liberty roots, put the UK at the forefront of a new cutting-edge global industry, and inspire the millennial generation to vote Tory for the first time in many of their lives, all without costing the Treasury a penny?
No, I’m not talking about Jeremy Hunt’s suggestion of reversing the fox-hunting ban. I’m talking about legalising recreational cannabis.
This week, a new poll found that a staggering 63 per cent of Londoners support following in the footsteps of Canada and legalising the drug. In the country as a whole, the Evening Standard survey found that 47 per cent are in favour and 23 per cent are undecided, putting the prohibitionists in a clear minority.
Before we get into why this is a no-brainer for the Tories, let’s dispel some myths about the risks of the drug, which is currently (and bizarrely) designated class B.
Drug Science, an independent committee of scientists founded by the former chair of the Brown government’s drug advisory committee (who was removed from his post for arguing that drugs should be classified according to evidence, rather than knee-jerk fears), conducted a major study into 20 different substances.
Assessing them on harm both to users and to others (for example, from violence), the final ranking put cannabis below both tobacco and alcohol. Alcohol, in fact, ranked as by far the most harmful substance, with a much higher damage to society than any other drug.
Anyone who argues that cannabis must remain an illicit substance to protect both individual users and Britain as a whole should by this logic be diverting their efforts towards banning alcohol. In fact, by some metrics cannabis is considered less harmful than sugar.
It is no wonder, then, that more and more developed countries are moving towards decriminalisation and legalisation – including Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and 10 US states.
That’s the scientific case, but what of the business argument?
The UK, in fact, already has a thriving cannabis industry – one that is only set to grow, as last week’s Cannabis Europa conference in London and next week’s CBD expo demonstrate. Production and export for designated purposes are actually legal in Britain with a Home Office licence, and the UK is already the world’s largest exporter of medicinal cannabis. This is something at which Britain excels.
With increasing hype over the “green rush,” it is estimated that cannabis could be the UK’s next billion-pound industry – if we had a government bold enough to seize the opportunity.
At this point, opponents of legalisation parrot the argument that the business potential would be offset by higher health and criminal justice costs. This simply isn’t the case.
On the contrary, if the drug were regulated and taxed appropriately, it would be a cash cow for the Treasury.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance estimates that the savings to police forces and prisons, from no longer having to knock the joints out of users’ hands or tackle cannabis-related crime, would total £892m a year.
The Adam Smith Institute, meanwhile, values a legal market at £6.8bn, bringing in over £1bn in tax revenue each year – a boost for both the Treasury and the economy.
Addiction and health issues could potentially be reduced by a legal market for products regulated for safety and quality (as with alcohol and tobacco), which, unlike the current black market, would enable consumers to know exactly what they were buying.
But even if you’re still concerned about health costs should consumption rise, the additional tax revenue would more than cover extra services and rehabilitation programmes.
And that’s to say nothing of the business potential for related industries, from advertising to events to cannabis-based products whose scope is limited only by imagination. (Cannabis-infused lube, anyone?)
We know it works – we’ve seen the birth of a phenomenally creative new sector in North America. The case for legalisation could not be more compelling. But it should be particularly appealing to the next Conservative leader – and not just because both contenders have admitted to their own past drug use.
The Tory party’s foundation principle is that of personal liberty. Whereas the left pitches for an ever-growing state to police the decisions of individuals and businesses, the free-market, libertarian faction of the right traditionally trusts citizens to make their own choices.
Recent Conservative governments have lost their way from this ideological path, with interventions from sugar taxes to porn blocks. The next leader has a chance to return the party to its liberal origins, and, given that support for legalisation is strongest among younger demographics, finally give disengaged millennials a reason to vote Tory.
The new leader won’t be able to solve the housing crisis overnight, there isn’t the money to eliminate student debt, and reducing our carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050 is going to be an economic minefield. But he could show Britain’s young people that he is on the side of science, of entrepreneurialism, of creativity, and of personal liberty.
Name me another policy that could do all of that.
Main image credit: Getty