The UK will completely legalise cannabis use within 15 years – if not sooner – MPs believe.
Members of the cross-party group made their predictions after a research trip to Canada.
Conservative Jonathan Djanogly, Sir Norman Lamb of the Lib Dems and Labour’s David Lammy travelled there on a trip organised by UK harm reduction group Volte Face, with part sponsorship by cannabis company MPX.
Lamb and Lammy funded their own flights and accommodation.
The politicians differed in their estimations of the length of time it would take for the UK to allow recreational use of cannabis, which Canada became the first G7 country to do last year.
Djanogly said we still had “a lot to learn” but reckons legalisation will occur in the next 10 to 15 years. Lamb and Lammy said it could happen in five years.
Lammy shifted his stance on the drug, moving away from his party’s official position. He said: “I want the market legalised, regulated and taken away from crime gangs.
“I want to see the strength of the stuff reduced, labelled and properly organised in this country.”
Lamb had previously led his party’s decision to back the legalisation of cannabis.
