Should Cannabis be Legalised in the UK?

An in-depth view and analysis

By

Waqaas Qureshi

Submitted for the part-fulfilment of the Honours Degree LLB Law with Psychology 2015

Nottingham Trent University

Word Count: 4809

1
Contents Page

Introduction 3

Health Effects 4

Effect of Legalisation/ Criminalisation on Public Resources 8

Effect of Legalisation on Society in Other Countries 11

Other uses of Cannabis 12

Conclusion 14

Bibliography 15

Acknowledgements 19

2
Introduction

Cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in the world.1 Cannabis is also the most widely

used recreational drug in the UK, with a report released last year stating 6.6% of adults in the

UK used cannabis, which is astonishingly high, as the next most widely used illegal drug was

only used by 2.4% of the adult population, as stated in the same report.2 Cannabis is a drug

used by many different members of society as studies show people from both affluent

socioeconomic backgrounds3 as well as those from low socioeconomic backgrounds use

cannabis.4 Cannabis has always been a strong issue in society, and debate

around Cannabis has recently been growing, as demonstrated by a recent television

programme which was broadcast nationally and involved television presenters consuming

Cannabis and a live debate involving celebrities, health experts and members of the public. 5

This paper will look at why Cannabis is so widely used despite being illegal, including the

reasons for its uses, the large worldwide debate about the health effects of Cannabis, the

effects of both legalisation and criminalisation on all groups and aspects of society, and other

non recreational uses of Cannabis. The aim of this paper is to provide a balanced and

insightful recommendation on whether Cannabis should stay illegal in the United Kingdom or

be decriminalised. This will be done by examining works by medical professionals and

experts on Cannabis, looking at a variety of different studies involving Cannabis, and

examine how legalisation in other counties and societies has effected society including the

government, health services, law enforcement and both Cannabis users and non Cannabis

users living in those societies.

1
United Nations office on drugs and crime 2010
2
Great Britain. Home Office 2014
3
Patrick, Wightman, Schoeni, Schulenberg 2012
4
Redonnet, Chollet, Fombonne, Bowes, Melchior 2012
5
Drugs Live: Cannabis on Trial 2015

3
Health Effects

A reason why Cannabis seems to be so misunderstood and the resulting constant debate

around it is the vast amounts of conflicting research and studies on Cannabis. Studies from

around the world, social studies, biological and neurological studies performed by experts

result in conflicting conclusions. From one side of the argument with studies claiming

Cannabis is a hugely dangerous drug resulting damage of the brain and the onset of numerous

mental illnesses to the opposite side with studies claiming Cannabis is one of the safest

substances known to man will be looked at and evaluated, and the reasons for the conflicting

reports will also be explored.

Negative Health Effects

Recent, up to date independent publications by organisations such as the Royal College of

Psychiatrists (hereafter RCP) have identified Cannabis to have both pleasant effects such as

relaxation as well as negative effects such as paranoia, anxiety and hallucinations. 6 The

leaflet produced by the RCP also states that Cannabis users can become dependent on

Cannabis, and so much so that they will seek out Cannabis in spite of school, work, or

relationships suffering7, this is alarming if paired with the fact that 15% of 16-24 year olds

used Cannabis in the UK in a recent study8 as this has major implications for the schooling

and educational system for young people as many users may not be doing as well as they

potentially could in the education system. This claim on Cannabis being addictive is backed

up by a study in which Cannabis smokers experienced sleep difficulty, aggression, irritability

and other effects associated with addiction during a period of abstinence.9 Another study also

6
Timms 2014
7
ibid
8
Great Britain. Home Office 2014
9
Budney, Hughes, Moore, Novy 2001

4
suggested that aggression is a symptom of Cannabis withdrawal10, and therefore it can be said

that Cannabis users are a danger to society due to the aggression associated with it. A study

carried out in New Zealand found that acute Cannabis use is heavily linked to car crash

injury.11 Cannabis has strongly been linked to mental disorders, and western society tends to

stereotypically link Cannabis use to ‘hippies’, criminals, rebellious teenagers and people with

mental disorders. The link to mental disorders may not be a mere stereotype, as there is a vast

pool of research linking Cannabis use to mental illness. Research carried out over 6 years by

King’s College London (hereafter: KCL) and Mount Sinai School of Medicine estimated that

24% of new psychosis cases are brought on by smoking skunk cannabis.12 Skunk Cannabis is

specifically bred Cannabis to produce high levels of the cannabinoid THC in order to produce

a stronger psychoactive effect and is the most commonly used kind in the UK as dealers

prefer this type to maximise profits. The majority of Cannabis for sale in the Netherlands and

medicinal Cannabis in decriminalised states in the USA can be classified as skunk types as

they are all bred to produce maximum amounts of THC, therefore the study can be

generalised and applied to the UK population and western countries as a whole. It should be

also be noted that there is much confusion around the word ‘skunk’, in the UK due to the

media heavily coining the term ‘skunk’ to describe different strains of marijuana bred using

unorthodox techniques to increase THC, ‘skunk’ is also the name of a specific high THC

yielding strain of Cannabis, and many strains have similar of even higher levels of THC than

the specific ‘skunk’ strain. Numerous studies have also claimed that Cannabis use during

adolescence can adversely affect the development of the brain and increase the risk of

psychological illnesses.131415 With Cannabis being linked to aggression, motor accidents,

10
Kouri, Pope, Lukas 1999
11
Blows, Ivers, Connor, Ameratunga, Woodward, Norton. 2005
12
King’s College London 2015
13
Quinn, Matsumoto, Callaghan, et al. 2008
14
Rubino, Realini, Braida, et al. 2009
15
Rubino, Zamberletti, Parolaro. 2012

5
psychosis, and impaired development of the brain it can be seen why the government chooses

to criminalise Cannabis.

Health Benefits of Cannabis and Counter-Arguments to Negative Health Effects.

Research on Cannabis has produced a large amount of findings on the health benefits of

Cannabis, resulting in doctors in the USA and Canada prescribing medicinal Cannabis and

groups in the UK pushing for Cannabis to be decriminalised. Sufferers of cancer, PTSD,

glaucoma, HIV, seizures, multiple sclerosis and a huge number of other illnesses can be

prescribed Cannabis depending on which state they live in, in the USA. 16 Glaucoma is a

disease resulting in increased pressure on the intraocular nerve of the eye, and a 1971 study

found that Cannabis use decreased intraocular pressure by 30%.17 A report released by a

medical marijuana advocacy group looked at a study and reported that Cannabis reduced

many symptoms of Crohn’s disease in some patients and resulted in a complete cure for some

patients.18 It has been stated that the negative effects associated with Cannabis such as anxiety

and nausea are often reported by inexperienced users and these are easily prevented by not

taking doses which are too high and by users being reassured of the effects or experiences

they may face.19 Although Cannabis had traditionally been prescribed to cancer patients due

to its ability to increase appetite, relieve pain and decrease nausea in chemotherapy patients,

new studies have found that the two main chemicals in Cannabis; THC and CBD can kill

cancer cells.20 Many patients have self medicated with Cannabis and cured themselves, for

example a 63 year old liver cancer sufferer cured himself using Cannabis oil.21 Scientists at

16
Malanca 2015
17
Hepler and Frank 1971
18
Barabi 2013
19
Hall and Pacula 2003, p 38
20
Roberts 2015
21
Hodgekiss 2014

6
the University of East Anglia found that THC combats the growth of cancer cells,22 and with

recent developments regarding Cannabis and cancer, Cancer Research UK have been

carrying out clinical trials using Cannabis as a medicine to treat cancer.23 Epilepsy is another

disease which can be combated using Cannabis. In the State of Colorado alone, 400 families

are treating their children’s epilepsy with Cannabis and thousands more are on a waiting

list.24 The strain of Cannabis used to treat the children with epilepsy has been cultivated in a

way that lowers the rate of THC produced by the plant therefore resulting in no psychoactive

effects, and levels of CBD which combats epileptic seizures is increased. A study published

in the magazine ‘American Scientist’ showed the fatal dose for Cannabis is more than 1000

times the effective dose, compared with 10 for alcohol and 5 for heroin,25 show it is

practically impossible to overdose on Cannabis, which explains why there have been no

recorded deaths due to Cannabis to date. For those very few deaths which have been

attributed to Cannabis, it has been argued that the reason was the Cannabis was contaminated

with harmful synthetic chemicals, as is common in places where there is no regulation of

Cannabis production due to it being illegal.

Summary

It can be said that the health benefits of Cannabis cannot be ignored, as Cannabis has been

found to be a last resort medicine for sufferers of serious illnesses such as glaucoma, cancer,

and epilepsy where other medicines have failed. Also, if cannabis was legalised, many of the

noted negative health effects may disappear, as legalisation would result in the proper

regulation of Cannabis production, and users will be able to choose between types of

Cannabis and not have to settle for high THC varieties which have been associated with

mental health risks.

22
Ibid
23
ibid
24
Ryan 2014
25
Gable 2006

7
Effect of Criminalisation/Legalisation on Public Resources

Criminalisation

A huge amount of public resources are currently spent on keeping Cannabis illegal and

policing the UK for Cannabis related offences. Due to Cannabis being illegal in the UK, it

has led to a large lucrative black market for criminals, similar to the human trafficking

market. Many properties in the UK which are used to grow Cannabis are operated by gangs

who use Vietnamese ‘slaves’ illegally trafficked to the UK, many of them children.26 The

people from Vietnam often pay the gangs who pose as legitimate members of society a very

large amount of money in exchange of a promised job in the UK,27 however they are lied to

and once bought here they are imprisoned and forced to work in dangerous environments,

this bears a striking resemblance to the illegal prostitution market as many Eastern European

women are trafficked to the UK the same way. Many of these Vietnamese ‘slaves’ are then

prosecuted under UK law for cultivating Cannabis.28 The cost of electricity stolen by illegal

‘Cannabis farms’ (properties used to grow Cannabis) is estimated to cost the UK £200

million a year,29 and as much as 4000 Cannabis farms are discovered in the UK every year.30

A political party named CLEAR commissioned The Independent Drug Monitoring Unit

(hereafter: IDMU) to carry out a study on Cannabis in the UK, the IDMU found that some

Cannabis related crime offences can cost the police over £1 million, and that legalising

Cannabis would save the police over £200 million a year.31 The IDMU report also estimated

26
Nguyen 2015
27
Ibid
28
Ibid
29
Butler 2012
30
Ibid
31
Atha and Davis 2011

8
that the Crown Prosecution Service would save £26 million per annum, the courts would also

save £26 million per annum, the prison industry would save £54 million per annum, and it

may lead to decreased NHS spending as Cannabis replaces prescription drugs and other

treatments.32 An article from the Guardian shows that sufferers of illnesses would grow

Cannabis in spite of a risk of going to prison, and recreational users grow their own Cannabis

purely because it is cheaper and safer than to buy from the black market.33 The UK illegal

Cannabis industry is worth £1 billion a year,34 this means criminals are making £1 billion a

year as well as stealing electricity, trafficking human slaves, being a strain on taxpayer funds,

and since there is no regulation there is a high risk of Cannabis being sold which has been

adulterated with dangerous synthetic chemicals.

Legalisation

In countries and states where Cannabis has been decriminalised, a huge chunk of the police

budget is saved, taxpayer’s money is not spent on keeping Cannabis related offenders in

prison, new jobs are created, and a vast amount of money is raised through taxation of

Cannabis. If Cannabis use in the UK was regulated and taxed, it would create £6.8 billion in

sales revenue.35 With VAT and excise duty applied, it would create £2.4 billion in tax

revenue for the UK economy just from sales.36 CLEAR concluded in their report that the

findings from IDMU show the overall benefit to the taxpayer of a regulated Cannabis market

in the UK would be £6.7 billion per annum.37 Criminalising Cannabis has proved that it does

not stop people using Cannabis. A report co-authored by a professor of economics has

claimed that a legal Cannabis market would result in the police saving £300 million per

annum and tax taken from Cannabis would be worth £1.25 billion per annum for the
32
Ibid
33
Taylor and Peachy 2012
34
National Crime Agency n.d
35
Atha and Davis 2011
36
Ibid
37
Ibid

9
government.38 DM FRCP FRCPsych FMedSci Professor David Nutt who was sacked from

his position as head of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs39 for criticising the

government’s decision to make Cannabis a class B drug and claiming Cannabis is not

harmful enough to be a class B drug, agreed with the report in the Guardian claiming

legalisation of Cannabis would provide the government with an extra £1.25 billion per year

and stated that the money the UK currently spends on controlling Cannabis is “massively

disproportionate to the harms of the drug, and shows that more sensible approaches would

provide significant financial benefits to the UK as well as reducing social exclusion and

injustice".40 Legalising Cannabis will improve other agricultural industries, as innovations

used in the Cannabis cultivating industry such as ‘zero wastewater’ water catchment systems

and advanced LED lighting systems used for optimal photosynthesis may be applied to other

forms of agriculture.41

Summary

It can be seen that the criminalisation of Cannabis does not stop people using Cannabis, what

it does achieve is criminalising illness sufferers who have tried traditional pharmaceutical

drugs to no avail and want to try Cannabis as a medicine which has been proven to work in

other countries. The criminalisation of Cannabis creates a dangerous black market where

consumers of Cannabis are using unregulated Cannabis often produced by dangerous gangs

involved in criminal activities, with the sole purpose of maximising profits and no concern

for the consumer. The cost of criminalising Cannabis is huge and an enormous drain on

public resources. Legalising Cannabis would liquidate the black market for Cannabis in the

UK, reducing crimes such as electricity theft, human trafficking, slavery, and would abolish

the criminal ‘career’ of being a Cannabis dealer, a choice which many young people make.
38
Doward 2013
39
BBC News 2009
40
Jamie 2013
41
Kennedy 2013

10
Legalising Cannabis could also create £6.7 billion in public funds.42 The criminalisation of

Cannabis is a pointless and backwards policy which does significantly more harm than good

for the entire society of the UK as a whole, including the government, the legal system, the

police, the NHS, medical illness sufferers, recreational Cannabis users, and even non users of

Cannabis as they suffer from an increased rate of crime and less taxpayer funds in the UK.

Effect of Legalisation on Society in Other Countries

Looking at what effect legalising Cannabis has had on other societies can give an insight on

whether it would also be a positive action for the same to happen in the UK. With the United

States and the Netherlands being similar countries to the UK, it can effects of legalisation in

the United States and in the Netherlands can easily be generalised and applied to the UK. The

state of Colorado which legalised Cannabis in the early months of 2014 has created 10,000

new jobs in the Cannabis industry.43 Cannabis use by young people in Colorado also

decreased.44 After Cannabis was legalised, the city of Denver experienced a 14.6% decrease

in crime, with violent crimes and assaults decreasing by 2.4% and 3.7% respectively.45 A

consequence of reduced crime is less resources being used and spent by the police and health

services. In Colorado, six months after Cannabis was made legal for recreational use, police

officers have stated that it has been a positive thing because as well as crime rates reducing,

police officers feel better about dedicating their time to more serious crimes rather than the

possession of Cannabis.46 Due to the legalisation of Cannabis in the United States of America

in recent years, Mexican drug cartels that kill on average 12,896 people per year have been

42
Matthew and Simon 2011
43
Birch 2015
44
Ibid
45
Ibid
46
Rucke 2014

11
dealt a blow in their illegal drug trade.47 This shows that legalisation of Cannabis does not

only reduce crime in the country where it becomes decriminalised, it decreases criminality

worldwide. An example given to understand this principle is that if Opium production was to

be decriminalised, it would negatively affect the Taliban black market for Opium thus

reducing terrorism. With the separation of soft and hard drugs in the Netherlands, this has led

to the Netherlands having the lowest level of problem drug users in the European Union,48 as

opposed to the UK where Cannabis is a class B substance, and the USA where Cannabis is a

class 1 schedule substance. The legalisation of Cannabis has displayed only positive

consequences in the states and countries it has been decriminalised.

Other uses of Cannabis

Historically, hemp has been a cherished and celebrated plant due to its many uses proven by

King Henry VIII imposing fines on farmers who grew less than one acre of hemp in the 15th

century49 and it being illegal to not grow hemp in the state of Virginia in the 17th century.50

Hemp use was ever increasing in the United States, until in 1938 when Andrew Mellon, an

investor in the DuPont company which created chemicals and products which have the same

uses as hemp, appointed his nephew Harry Anslinger as the head of the newly created Bureau

of Narcotics who in turn then passed a bill banning the production of hemp51 due to it being a

dangerous drug and making many horrific claims on the effects of Cannabis, such as it

causing users to kill and rape girls. 52 The Cannabis plant has for many generations been used

for a variety of purposes, and not always consumed as a drug. Hemp can be described as a

variety of Cannabis plant which grows very tall thus resulting in more fibrous content of the

plant. Hemp also contains very low amounts of psychoactive chemicals such as THC. Hemp
47
Mckay 2014
48
Smith 2012
49
Doug n.d
50
Herndon 1963
51
Wolford 2012
52
Anslinger 1937

12
can be used for clothing, paper, building materials, plastics, clean bio-fuel and as a chemical

clean product; because when hemp grows it helps cleanse the soil of chemicals, heavy metals,

and other unwanted materials.53 An online blog published by the Guardian discussed hemp as

a bio-fuel and questioned why hemp is not used as a bio-fuel in the UK despite its advantages

over other crops used for bio-fuel such as not having to clear land to grow hemp, its speed in

growing, and its ability to grow in different temperatures.54 Although recent consumerism of

hemp based foods has grown considerably,55 the UK Department for Environment, Food and

Rural Affairs states hemp is a not a food crop and a license must be obtained to cultivate

hemp for the use of hemp seed as a food. Hemp based foods make great alternatives for

people with special dietary requirements, for example sufferers of lactose intolerance may

enjoy hemp milk as a healthy alternative, with hemp milk having the highest iron content of

all milks and with over 90% of its fat content being constituted of omega fatty acids. 56 Hemp

oil has many uses including being used in beauty products such as soaps, moisturisers, hair

oils, and it makes a very healthy cooking oil due to it consisting of 80% polyunsaturated

acids and therefore being the most unsaturated oil available to produce from plants. 57 If hemp

was able to be cultivated legally, many more people would be able to enjoy the benefits of

hemp oil.

Conclusion

Although certain strains of Cannabis have been associated with mental health risks, with the
conflicting reports denying the mental health risks and on the contrary actually claiming
Cannabis can be used to treat mental illnesses, it can be concluded that the studies claiming
Cannabis is harmful to mental health cannot be generalised as they mainly looked at users

53
McDermott 2010
54
Sica 2009
55
Lan 2009
56
Ibid 2009
57
Anon n.d

13
using abnormally high doses of specifically bred high THC varieties of Cannabis. If Cannabis
was legalised, users would be free to choose which strain of Cannabis they want to use, rather
than being forced to use high THC varieties being grown by criminal gangs, this in effect
may help reduce mental illness prevalence among Cannabis users. The studies claiming
Cannabis causes mental illnesses did not take into account the factor of individuals turning to
Cannabis as a result of their underlying mental conditions and being predisposed to the
behaviour of drug abuse. Cannabis can be abused just like alcohol, and individuals can
become dependent on Cannabis just like individuals who can become dependent on caffeine,
yet alcohol is not illegal despite clearly being much more harmful, and caffeine is not seen as
a bad drug. Caffeine is openly marketed to children in energy drinks. The numerous
documented benefits of Cannabis as a medicine cannot be ignored, and Cannabis as a
medicine to treat cancer and epilepsy should be fast tracked into the health services, as adults
should be able to use a medicine if they choose, however, unfortunately the government is
being over cautious and still using old and outdated studies which have been disproven by
newer studies, as a reference point to keep Cannabis illegal. It can clearly be seen that the
criminalisation of Cannabis does not stop its use; it just creates a black market and a lucrative
business for criminals who put an enormous strain on police resources. It is difficult to see
why Cannabis should stay illegal. The benefits of a legalised and taxed Cannabis market as
well as the benefits of Cannabis as a medicine clearly point towards the notion that Cannabis
should become legalised in the United Kingdom.

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Timms, P 2014. Cannabis and Mental Health. [online] (London) Royal College of
Psychiatrists. Available at:

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http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthproblems/alcoholanddrugs/
cannabisandmentalhealth.aspx [Accessed 18th March 2015]

United Nations office on Drugs and Crime, 2010. World Drug Report 2010 [online] (New
York) Available at: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2010.html
[Accessed 15th January 2015]

Walford B, 2012. The Hemp Conspiracy: why US hemp farming was banned. [online](s.l)
Waking Times. Available at: http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/06/27/the-hemp-conspiracy-
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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my tutor Louise Taylor for supporting me and guiding me through this
project.

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I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROJECT REPRESENTS MY OWN WORK AND

THAT NO USE HAS BEEN MADE OF ANY SOURCE, MATERIALS OR PERSONAL

ADVICE APART FROM THOSE CITED HEREIN AND THAT IT DOES NOT EXCEED

THE STATED WORD LIMIT REFERRED TO IN THE PROJECT GUIDANCE NOTES.

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SIGNATURE: Waqaas Qureshi

NAME: Waqaas Qureshi

COURSE: LLB Law with Psychology 2012-2015

DATE: 17-04-2015

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