Cannabis should be legalised to free up the police to focus on serious crime and take power away from criminal gangs, one London mayor said today.
Damien Egan, 37, mayor of Lewisham, said: “I have been in my role for two years and it is plain to me that the current system is not working. Young people are being exploited by gangs.
"Most young people arrested for possession in Lewisham have less than £25-worth of cannabis on them, so we are criminalising people over trivial offences.”
Mr Egan praised the Standard’s investigation The Cannabis Debate last year. He said: “The campaign was really brave because it followed the evidence and sparked a grown-up debate.
"Your investigation revealed how legalisation is panning out in parts of the US and Canada and how underage usage had not increased.”
He added: “I would be prepared to see Lewisham used as a test-bed to pilot a legalised cannabis zone, as long as it comes with proper education and regulation.”
A poll by Survation for the Standard showed that 63 per cent of Londoners wanted to see cannabis legalised.
Mayor Sadiq Khan has also appealed for a rethink on cannabis laws and said the Standard’s investigation showed “how attitudes were changing”.
The Liberal Democrats’ candidate for Mayor, Siobhan Benita, said she would like to implement a cannabis legalisation pilot scheme.
