News
LEGAL CANNABIS TAX
COULD BE WORTH £1BN
A ‘ROOT AND BRANCH’ REFORM of UK cannabis policy is ‘long
overdue’, says a new report from Volteface and free market
think tank the Adam Smith Institute. A legal cannabis market in
the UK could be worth £6.8bn a year and produce annual
benefits to the government of up to around £1bn in tax
revenue and reduced criminal justice costs, says The tide effect:
how the world is changing its mind on cannabis legalisation.
Current policy is a ‘messy patchwork’, it says, with
enforcement intermittent and dependent on each regional
police force. The government ‘must acknowledge’ that
legalisation is the only workable solution, the document states.
The report, which has the backing of cross-party MPs
including Caroline Lucas, Nick Clegg, Paul Flynn, Peter Lilley and
Michael Fabricant, comes after four more US states, including
California, have voted to legalise the sale and consumption of
recreational cannabis (see story this page). A regulation model
is ‘substantially more desirable’ than either decriminalisation or
unregulated legalisation as it is the only way to ensure that the
product meets acceptable standards of quality and purity, it
says, as well as removing criminal gangs from the equation ‘as
far as possible’, raising revenue for the Treasury through pointof-sale taxation and protecting public health.
The document also echoes previous calls for the
responsibility for cannabis policy to be moved to the
Department of Health, with the Home Office’s role changing
from ‘enforcement of prohibition to enforcement of
regulation and licensing’. Jailing people for cannabis-related
offences in England and Wales costs around £50m per year,
the document adds.
‘The global movement towards legalisation, regulation and
taxation of cannabis is now inexorable,’ said Volteface’s
director, Steve Moore.
‘Today in the UK there is capricious policing of cannabis and no regulation of its sales and distribution. This
quasi-decriminalisation of cannabis leaves criminals running a multi-billion dollar racket and exposes teenage kids
to criminality. The evidence is now clear that regulated markets for cannabis cut crime and protect vulnerable
children. The government's current policy vacuum is untenable in the face of this evidence.’
Report available at www.adamsmith.org
the report has the
backing of cross-party
MPs including Caroline
Lucas, Nick Clegg, Paul
flynn, Peter Lilley (above)
and Michael fabricant.
WORRYING
PREDICTIONS
ALCOHOL IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE AROUND
135,000 CANCER DEATHS over the next 20
years, costing the NHS an estimated £2bn,
according to a new Sheffield University report.
Oesophageal cancer is expected to see the
largest increase, followed by bowel cancer,
mouth and throat cancer and liver cancer.
‘These new figures reveal the devastating
impact alcohol will have over the coming
years,’ said Cancer Research UK’s director of
prevention, Alison Cox. ‘That’s why it’s hugely
important the public are aware of the link
between alcohol and cancer.’ Alcohol and
cancer trends: intervention scenarios at
www.cancerresearchuk.org
4 | drinkanddrugsnews | December 2016
RISK MANAGEMENT
HIV LEVELS IN THE UK REMAIN LOW but there
are continuing risks among people who inject
drugs and ‘outbreaks still occur’, according to
PHE’s updated Shooting up: infections among
people who injected drugs in the UK report.
Diagnostic testing for HIV should be offered
to all those at risk, it says, while ‘new
patterns of injecting drug use among some
groups of MSM’ is also a concern. Only 1 per
cent of people who inject drugs in the UK
are infected, although 17 per cent reported
sharing injecting equipment and around half
have been infected with hepatitis C, often
without being aware. Bacterial infections
also remain common, it states, some of
which can lead to severe illnesses.
Report at www.gov.uk
UNAPPEALING
DEVELOPMENTS
THE SCOTCH WHISKY ASSOCIATION (SWA)
has said it intends to appeal the Scottish
Court of Session’s ruling on minimum unit
pricing (MUP) (DDN, November, page 5). The
decision to appeal to the UK Supreme Court
– and so extend the seemingly endless MUP
saga – is not one the organisation has ‘taken
lightly’, said its acting chief executive, Julie
Hesketh-Laird. ‘It comes after wide
consultation with our member companies
and other parties to the case to see whether
there is an alternative way forward.
However, given our strong view that
minimum pricing is incompatible with EU
law and likely to be ineffective, we now hope
that our appeal can be heard quickly in the
UK Supreme Court.’ SHAAP director Eric
Carlin said the decision ‘beggared belief’,
while Alcohol Focus Scotland chief executive
Alison Douglas called it ‘truly shocking and
saddening news’ and accused SWA members
of putting shareholder profits ‘above the
public interest’.
HIGH VOTER TURNOUT
‘It is time to highlight
the benefits of welldesigned... drug policies.’
Ruth DReIfuss
LAST MONTH’S US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS also
saw citizens vote on commercial models of
recreational cannabis supply in five more states.
Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada and, significantly,
California – which has a population of nearly
40m – all voted in favour of legalising the sale
and consumption of recreational cannabis, while
Arizona voted against. Meanwhile, a new report
from the Global Commission on Drug Policy calls
for UN member states to explore regulatory
models for illicit drugs and end all penalties for
possession for personal use. ‘It is time to
highlight the benefits of well-designed and wellimplemented people-centred drug policies,’ said
commission chair Ruth Dreifuss.
Advancing drug policy reform available at
www.globalcommissionondrugs.org
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