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UK - updates on change to UK cannabis regulations

The.Highlander

New member
Hi all,



This thread is for discussing UK Cannabis regulation, and the changes which will lead to it's eventual legalisation in the UK, for both medicinal, and recreational use.



The general consensus is that it's not too far off now, licenses have been granted to multiple UK start ups, as well as a couple of established US/Canadian based operators, to cultivate THC heavy flowers, for what they currently class as ''research and medicinal purposes''.


What are peoples views on this, what kind of a time frame might we be looking at, is it good or bad, for or against, positive or negative, etc. ....


There don't seem to be a current public discussion on this topic so ....
:skiiing:
 

GMT

The Tri Guy
Veteran
There's no point really, it won't be legalised in the UK for decades. People have thought we are close for 25 years, doubt I'll see the day.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
They moved it to class C, essentially decriminalising it a few years ago. London went Ghetto though. Pedaling on the street corners. Commuters at 8am didn't want it. Complaint went ignored. Back to class B.
 

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
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Federal legalisation in America might help things along in the UK.... But i still think we are some years away.

The Tories, whose phoney culture wars have divided our country, will never legalise - and are likely to be in power for a long time -with our biased press, FPTP rigged electoral system and constituency boundary changes.

But hey, who needs legal weed when you've got sovereignty ROFLMAO


VG
 

VerdantGreen

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They moved it to class C, essentially decriminalising it a few years ago. London went Ghetto though. Pedaling on the street corners. Commuters at 8am didn't want it. Complaint went ignored. Back to class B.
You're seriously trying to blame the upgrading of cannabis on London ?!?

you seem to want to blame London for everything! Last time i saw you mention london you said: (in a different thread)

London talk. Where hipsters eat fusarium grown in vats and think it's baby mushroom compote. Totally removed from reality.

I lived in London throughout that whole time and the reclassification made NO difference to cannabis on the streets, it was always there and always will be there.. just like any other City from my experience.. but bigger.
What did also change at the time of downgrading was the introduction of police targets, where officers could stop and search people and make arrests (the police were left with their discretion for arresting or warning for cannabis possession) and the Police found the easiest ways they could meet their target was to stop and search people for drugs, and this is why they were unfairly targetting black people in london with stop and search. Before these targets and changes, the major reason for stop and search was suspected possession of stolen goods.


"Drug policy reform and the reclassification of cannabis in England and Wales: A cautionary tale"
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/191532235.pdf
the analysis charts the process of net-widening that followed the reform, identifying a sharp increase in the number of people caught in the criminal justice net for minor possession offences. While police targeting of such offences was an unintended consequence of performance targets, broader political influences were also at play.
Recent increases in criminal justice sanctions for drug possession offences have been driven by changes in police behaviour and the distorting effects of performance targets. Police recorded crimes where there is no identifiable victim, including drug use, increased year-on-year from 2002/3 to 2007/08, but the Office for National Statistics (2013: 16) insisted this apparent trend reflected ‘changes in police workload and activity rather than in levels of criminality’. The increase in victimless crimes ‘coincided with the priority placed on increasing the numbers of offences brought to justice associated with Public Service Agreement targets’ and was particularly marked in relation to drug offences and public order offences (ibid: 16). The number of drug possession offences recorded by the police jumped from around 100,000 per year between 1998 and 2003/4 to 11 approximately 200,000 per year between 2007/08 and 2011/12 (Home Office, 2012). This increase was all the more remarkable because it occurred at a time when rates of self-reported drug use were already falling (see Figure 4). A similar pattern of divergence is evident in relation to cannabis: the number of cannabis possession offences recorded by police almost doubled between 2004/5 and 20011/12, while rates of self-reported use fell by more than quarter. (Published police recorded crime figures have only included cannabis possession as a specific category since 20004/5). Figure 4 about here Stop and search provides a useful barometer of police interest in drug offences. Drugs provide the most common reason for stop and search, accounting for half of all such encounters, followed by stolen goods, which account for around a fifth (Home office, 2014). Although drug searches are relatively common, it is unclear what substances officers are looking for and whether the suspected offences relates to possession or supply because there is no requirement to record such information. We do know that cannabis possession accounts for around 70 per cent of police recorded drug offences (Home Office, 2012) and, on this basis, would estimate that around a third of stop-searches are for suspected cannabis possession. The number of stop-searches for all drugs more than doubled between 2000/1 and 2010/11, with most of this increase occurring after the initial reclassification of cannabis. In proportionate terms, this represents an increase from around a third to a half of all stopsearches. The greater focus on drugs has primarily come at the expense of stolen goods (see Figure 5), which accounted for around two-fifths of stop-searches in 2000/1 but only one-fifth in 2010/11.
The reasons given for the reclassification was that cannabis got stronger with the rise of 'skunk' cannabis and a report that connected it to mental problems... also there was a general election coming and the Tories were using their usual shtick about Labour (who downgraded cannabis) being soft on crime.

Even before reclassification came into effect, The Telegraph (2004) newspaper reported that Michael Howard, then leader of the Opposition, had announced that a future Conservative Government would reverse the ‘absurd’ and ‘misconceived’ decision to downgrade cannabis, arguing it had created a ‘muddle’ and sent a signal to young people that taking cannabis was legal and safe. A few months later, Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips (2004) claimed David Blunkett had ‘scored a truly spectacular own goal’ by reversing his predecessor’s ‘tough approach’ on drugs, uniting ‘a vast army of opponents - doctors, police, teachers and parents - in a ferocious backlash that is threatening his political credibility.’ Faced with this less hospitable environment, New Labour changed tack. On the eve of the 2005 General Election Tony Blair indicated that the Government would move cannabis back to Class B if it was re-elected, pointing to emerging evidence that the drug may be more harmful than previously thought (The Guardian, 2005). Labour won the election and cannabis was returned to Class B under the leadership of Gordon Brown. Although this reversal was officially attributed to concerns about stronger strains of cannabis and ‘binge smoking’, it was rumoured that Brown agreed to it in return for the political support of Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, at a time when public opinion was turning against the Government
and so we come full circle... because i imagine your negative attitude towards London comes from reading the Daily Mail or the Sun, or right wing feeds on facebook! - a good example of the fabricated culture wars that the Tories and right wing have used to divide our country for their own political gain!

A Tory MP with a flat cap and a few slogans is not the answer to the problems in the Midlands and the North!

VG
 
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GMT

The Tri Guy
Veteran
Remember,there are no stop and search laws unless there is a section 60 in place. This has the have a short time span, and always has an end date. The police cannot use the "I smell cannabis" excuse to search anyone any more, due to the widespread misuse.
The stop and account is a voluntary interaction, and so you can just walk away from that.
 

Stizo

Well-known member
Veteran
Well said Verdant Green. Tabloid biased info is rife in the UK and Tories are hanging on to their version of archaic power and self interest. Check out Adam Curtis doc Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Hypernormalisatiom.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Remember,there are no stop and search laws unless there is a section 60 in place. This has the have a short time span, and always has an end date. The police cannot use the "I smell cannabis" excuse to search anyone any more, due to the widespread misuse.
The stop and account is a voluntary interaction, and so you can just walk away from that.

I have been stopped and searched on these very grounds in recent years. Any grounds will do. Just no searches without a reason.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
You're seriously trying to blame the upgrading of cannabis on London ?!?

you seem to want to blame London for everything! Last time i saw you mention london you said: (in a different thread)



I lived in London throughout that whole time and the reclassification made NO difference to cannabis on the streets, it was always there and always will be there.. just like any other City from my experience.. but bigger.
What did also change at the time of downgrading was the introduction of police targets, where officers could stop and search people and make arrests (the police were left with their discretion for arresting or warning for cannabis possession) and the Police found the easiest ways they could meet their target was to stop and search people for drugs, and this is why they were unfairly targetting black people in london with stop and search. Before these targets and changes, the major reason for stop and search was suspected possession of stolen goods.


"Drug policy reform and the reclassification of cannabis in England and Wales: A cautionary tale"
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/191532235.pdf
The reasons given for the reclassification was that cannabis got stronger with the rise of 'skunk' cannabis and a report that connected it to mental problems... also there was a general election coming and the Tories were using their usual shtick about Labour (who downgraded cannabis) being soft on crime.

and so we come full circle... because i imagine your negative attitude towards London comes from reading the Daily Mail or the Sun, or right wing feeds on facebook! - a good example of the fabricated culture wars that the Tories and right wing have used to divide our country for their own political gain!

A Tory MP with a flat cap and a few slogans is not the answer to the problems in the Midlands and the North!

VG

It was very specifically Lambeth in south London where no arrests were made for possession. That was the policy. I'm unsure where you were living to see no difference and arrests. There was live footage and interviews on TV news, not second hand newspaper articles. The BBC did a documentary though I didn't watch. The step back to class B didn't point to what they made happen, but rather new evidence and an unwillingness to hear anything different. However it's hard not to be influenced by the media. You yourself obviously read a certain range of papers to take the attitude I must read the other ones. However it's all second hand, I don't read them. It leads to closed mind responses such as your effort to stereotype me.



I'm surprised I have said two things that stick with you enough to form such an opinion. Are you taking notes? The other comment in context is well placed. How only a banker would see our food stocks as unimportant, judging them in terms of monetary worth not sustenance. With an explanation of global food futures. Though you seem to of just latched on to what you want to hear.

I categorically have no issue with London. That's ridiculous.
 

VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
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It's your own statements about London that are questionable... It just seems like right-wing populist propaganda to me... Are there some nice things you've said about London that i missed??
I lived in Wandsworth and Tooting, right next to Lambeth Borough - and we used to do DJ/ promote Nightcubs and raves in Brixton (Lambeth) and all over, Central London, North London..

Lambeth residents didn't want the Police to continue spending their whole time filling quotas by arresting rastas for cannabis possession. Brixton was one area in London where the West indian and Caribbean immigrants settled- along with other very deprived areas at the time like Notting Hill
(they were invited over to UK and actively recruited to fill labour shortages after the war)
(march 2002)

Following the Report of the Independent Inquiry into the Misuse of Drugs Act the Lambeth Police have been experimenting with new ways of dealing with cannabis possession without using arrest. The experiment is in line with the Report's recommendations. The Police Foundation has mounted its own independent survey of resident reaction to the experiment in collaboration with the MORI Social Research Institute. In parallel the Metropolitan Police has been evaluating the results of their scheme from a policing perspective.
Findings indicate that overall approval for the scheme is very high -- eight in ten residents (83%) either support the scheme outright (36%), or support it conditionally (47%). Only 8% disapprove of the scheme
The two conditions are:

  • if the police spend more time tackling serious crime (32%)
  • if they actually reduce serious crime in Lambeth (15%).
The scheme dealt only with cannabis not hard drugs. 61% of Lambeth residents support this distinction and do not want the scheme extended to hard drugs.
https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/lambeth-cannabis-policing-experiment



Linton Kwesi Johnson - Sonny's Lettah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uvY5qU7ayg


From Brixton Prison, Jebb Avenue London S.W. 2 Inglan
Dear mama
Good day
I hope that when these few lines reach you they may
Find you in the best of health
I doun know how to tell ya dis
For I did mek a solemn promise
To tek care a lickle Jim
An try mi bes fi look out fi him

etc
 
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VerdantGreen

Genetics Facilitator
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Mentor
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Fast forward to 2021, and quite a few police forces in England have unofficially stopped prosecuting for minor cannabis offences.
 

TheDarkStorm

Well-known member
You're seriously trying to blame the upgrading of cannabis on London ?!?

you seem to want to blame London for everything! Last time i saw you mention london you said: (in a different thread)



I lived in London throughout that whole time and the reclassification made NO difference to cannabis on the streets, it was always there and always will be there.. just like any other City from my experience.. but bigger.
What did also change at the time of downgrading was the introduction of police targets, where officers could stop and search people and make arrests (the police were left with their discretion for arresting or warning for cannabis possession) and the Police found the easiest ways they could meet their target was to stop and search people for drugs, and this is why they were unfairly targetting black people in london with stop and search. Before these targets and changes, the major reason for stop and search was suspected possession of stolen goods.


"Drug policy reform and the reclassification of cannabis in England and Wales: A cautionary tale"
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/191532235.pdf
The reasons given for the reclassification was that cannabis got stronger with the rise of 'skunk' cannabis and a report that connected it to mental problems... also there was a general election coming and the Tories were using their usual shtick about Labour (who downgraded cannabis) being soft on crime.

and so we come full circle... because i imagine your negative attitude towards London comes from reading the Daily Mail or the Sun, or right wing feeds on facebook! - a good example of the fabricated culture wars that the Tories and right wing have used to divide our country for their own political gain!

A Tory MP with a flat cap and a few slogans is not the answer to the problems in the Midlands and the North!

VG

Yet while all this was going behind people's backs a line that carries the same skunk name as well as other so called modern cannabis types were being integrated into new medecations that when completed were worth millions, and the combinations that made them patented so they couldn't be copied. Some mp's or members of their immediate families secretly even invested in these projects that used the very thing they were saying to the public has no medical use and causes serious mental issues.
 

Bush Dr

Painting the picture of Dorian Gray
Veteran
Fast forward to 2021, and quite a few police forces in England have unofficially stopped prosecuting for minor cannabis offences.

You can count Avon & Somerset out of that, they’re still busting people for 0.1g whatever that looks like
 

Stizo

Well-known member
Veteran
No English government is going to legalise cannabis for recreational purposes and definitely not under the guise of “medicinal” like the States. It is too much of a political hot potato. Two party binary politics in an archaic system that is afraid of change. Tbh it’s not massively important anyway. 11 plus years of austerity and ministers currently touting there will be another 10 years following Brexit means legalisation is about the lowest priority.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Yet while all this was going behind people's backs a line that carries the same skunk name as well as other so called modern cannabis types were being integrated into new medecations that when completed were worth millions, and the combinations that made them patented so they couldn't be copied. Some mp's or members of their immediate families secretly even invested in these projects that used the very thing they were saying to the public has no medical use and causes serious mental issues.

The Prime Minister Theresa May pushed through harder drug control laws, while her party received donations from GW Pharma a company her husband was a shareholder in.

You couldn't make it up.




Neither the Reds nor the Blue's intend to look at cannabis. Though the Blue teams main advisors are pro-cannabis. Putting the Right closer than the Left, though it's meaningless.

Voting elsewhere is a waste of a vote. We do have 'The Greens' though, who surely must like Green. The SNP and the Welsh are pro-medical and the Welsh already have it passed within their party.

UKIP are the only party to of openly said No.
 

Cuddles

Well-known member
Neither the Reds nor the Blue's intend to look at cannabis. Though the Blue teams main advisors are pro-cannabis.
We all know that that the legalization of weed has numereous benefits. Be it medical use and thus better health/ quality of life and prolonged life for say cancer patients or the prevention of such diseases; or the economical benefit of a legal cannabis industry.
Trouble at the moment is, that Labour is usually rubbish at economy and that the current PM is famously on record for saying (quote) FUCK BUSINESS!!!! And to make matters worse : he´s proved that he doesn´t care nor that he intends to make things better (generally)
 

GMT

The Tri Guy
Veteran
I have been stopped and searched on these very grounds in recent years. Any grounds will do. Just no searches without a reason.

Banks have been robbed with shotguns, doesn't mean its allowed. Video them, object but don't resist, straight to the small claims court for a fast grand in the hand.
 

f-e

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
Banks have been robbed with shotguns, doesn't mean its allowed. Video them, object but don't resist, straight to the small claims court for a fast grand in the hand.

They had me down to my tighty whities in the back of a van they called. There is nothing illegal about it.
 

GMT

The Tri Guy
Veteran
If they did it in the last 6 months for smelling weed on you, no section 60 in place, it was illegal.
 
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