The UK, a rather progressive, tolerant and generally fairly liberal place is hilariously outdated and behind the times when it comes to the discussion of cannabis legalisation.  This isn't about only wanting to get 'high' (in the same way one might get drunk) this is about the proven medical benefits of cannabis and, in what should please everyone including the government, is about creating a legal structure for new businesses to start, grow and succeed in the UK. Creating thousands of jobs, helping countless numbers of people who suffer with a multitude of medical issues to handle daily life a little more comfortably.

I am a realist, I get that the most likely way to make any headway is to appeal to the bank balances of those in power.  I'm not judging them for that, after-all everyone likes to make money, as is their right.  Well, legalisation of cannabis is practically a license to print money for our government and the people at HM Revenue & Customs. 

The Institute of Economic Affairs estimated that the illegal cannabis market in the UK was worth £2.6 Billion in 2016/17 and if legalised that tax revenues alone could easily be over £1 billion per year.  This doesn't even include the savings on public services that legal buying and using could bring. Savings to the NHS are conservatively estimated to be at least £300 million per year.  Lots of new Business Tax, lots of new tax coming in from all the new employees the industry would create.  Lots of new worldwide trade with other legal countries/states that want high quality UK made produce.

Institute of Economic Affairs link

As I type this there is an influx of fake cannabis vape cartridges flooding parts of the UK.  They are filled with Spice, not cannabis.  So far, 9 children have collapsed.  A nurse has estimated that the potential costs to the NHS for treating a Spice victim could be over £10,000 per person.  Nearly £100,000 out of the NHS budget in a couple of days for just 9 people in one small area of the UK.

In 2017, Camden and Islington NHS Trust revealed that 440 people, treated for ingestion of spice and other synthetic legal highs, had also been violent before and during their admission.  Up to £4.4 million cost in treatment, plus a risk of injury to the staff involved. Again, this is in just one small part of the UK.

The estimated cost to the UK for this alone is potentially hundreds of millions of pounds a year and it is not in decline.

Costs of Spice use on NHS Link

Effectively the UK Government is allowing the illegal trade of cannabis to flourish. A system that not only puts peoples health and lives at risk, but also costs the NHS and other vital services hundreds of millions of pounds each year.  As if that wasn't enough, the government could be making billions each year on top of all the other savings they would be making.  Yet still, they refuse to do anything to help themselves and their people.

Smoking tobacco is the No.1 cause of cancer in the UK. Tobacco use costs the NHS between £2-£6 billion a year to treat all medical issues arising from smoking.  A think tank; Policy Exchange estimated that the total cost to the UK taxpayer per year for everything tobacco related was £14 billion. 

Info on Costs to NHS from Tobacco Use

The total burden to the UK from alcohol abuse was estimated at £21-£52 billion per year in 2016 by Public Health England. The cost of alcohol abuse to the NHS in 2016 was estimated at £3.5 billion.  The cost to peoples lives, health and homes is borderline immeasurable.  

Alcohol Costs to the UK Info

The government is unwilling to do anything about those two specific drugs that are proven to kill. Proven to destroy lives. Proven to destroy families. Proven to be the cause of violence. Proven to be incredibly addictive. Proven to have no medical benefit.

Why?  Because they make money from them both.  That is all.  There is no other reason for them to be legal.

So, why won't they make cannabis legal.  It is 100% natural (something they can properly regulate with legalisation).  It is impossible to overdose from.  It is far far less addictive than alcohol/tobacco/opioids.  It is proven to have medical benefits in patients for pain relief, anxiety relief, MS, fibromyalgia (of which I suffer), glaucoma, parkinsons disease and has been shown to be able to kill certain cancerous cells.

(NOTE - Cannabis is not a cure for cancer as some like to say. It can however kill certain cancerous cell types).  The list of medical benefits goes on and on.

Harvard Health Blog

Cannabis can be taken in a multitude of ways. It can be tailored to each user, be they medical or personal users.  It can be smoked, producing far less toxins over tobacco as the product is naturally grown.  It can be vapourised, in liquid or flower form, meaning no smoke is created at all so has no tars & poisons etc like tobacco does. It can be placed into food so people can ingest that way.  It can put into tablets/capsules and taken as easily as a vitamin.

The image of the stereotypical 'hippy pothead' that exists is nothing but an outdated parody these days.  Canada and the USA have shown this by their legalisation. They have created a huge industry, filled with serious business men and women, creatives, engineers, chemists. All employing tens of thousands of people all far away from the passe image of a cannabis user that sadly lots of people here still seem to think is the norm.  The dispensaries for cannabis can often put a UK chemists shops to shame.  

Cannabis Dispensaries Interiors

This is no fly-by-night, half-baked fad.  This is a huge opportunity for the UK to become one of the most progressive places around.  The UK has incredible talent and resources. The possibilities for what could be achieved with legalisation and proper regulation are huge.  It is an industry that the UK really should be a leader in.