Introduction: Setting the Stage for Cannabis Reform
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.
In the run up to the general election, Tim Farron, who is the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has promised to completely legalise cannabis paving the way for a recreational market within the UK. Sadly this is nothing more than another Lib Dem lie, to be able to go through with such drastic policy change the Lib Dems would have to win a majority in the upcoming election….the current price in the bookies for this is 750/1.
The Liberal Democrats’ Cannabis Promise
The Lib Dems will do absolutely anything to stay relevant within the current political sphere, they have form for promising young voters things just to secure enough votes to be able to scrape into a coalition with the tories and subsequently go back on everything that they had promised their voters. Last time it was university fees and this time it is the legalisation of cannabis. In reality any vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for another four years of tory rule and with Theresa May at the helm there is no chance of decriminalisation never mind legalisation. Theresa May recently linked cannabis use to opioid use and hinted that punishment may become stricter for cannabis users in the next four years.
It is also worth noting that the Lib Dems support for cannabis is not all its made out to be, cannabis merely falls into the category of recreational drugs which cause no harm to the user and therefore the Lib Dems believe that every person should have the right to decide weather they do these drugs in their own personal time. They are more pro liberty than pro cannabis, while this isn’t a bad thing I just don’t believe that they have the right intentions or any real chance of actually being in a position to make such a change.
Their leader also recently stated that he would not allow his children or want them to smoke cannabis at any stage of their life, this further backs up my point which is that the Lib Dems are the wrong party to vote for if you want any meaningful cannabis reform.
While Labour have not directly supported cannabis legalisation recently, their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has previously shown his support for medical marijuana. A Labour government may not lead to full legalisation however I can see them being a lot more lenient than the Conservatives in respect to recreational cannabis while I can see them ushering in medical cannabis. Any pothead out there voting for anyone else other than Labour at this general election needs to take a long hard look at themselves.
