UK DRUGS POLICY AN EMBARRASSMENT, WE MUST MODERNISE AND LEGALISE

UK DRUGS POLICY AN EMBARRASSMENT, WE MUST MODERNISE AND LEGALISE
New study reveals shameful failures in UK’s drug strategy and calls for legalisation and regulation of cannabis in the UK

• California among latest US states to legalize cannabis
• Major western democracies taking pragmatic policy decisions, leaving UK floundering
• UK cannabis market worth £6.8bn a year, and as much as £1.05bn to the Treasury
• Cannabis related offenders in UK prison hits 1,363, costing taxpayer £50m a year
• World leaders, international institutions and medical bodies all calling for legalisation over political posturing

The government must acknowledge that cannabis legalisation is the only workable solution to the problems of crime and addiction in the UK and modernise and legalise, says a new report released this morning by the Adam Smith Institute and Volteface.

The current policy around cannabis in Britain is a messy patchwork of legislation intermittently enforced by regional police forces. The Home Office, which is responsible for developing and enforcing the UK’s drugs strategy, has been accused of trying to alter Whitehall reports that show no link between tough laws and the levels of illegal drug use, putting political posturing above real outcomes. 

The report urges politicians and the public to recognise that the UK’s drugs strategy has failed in its core aims to prevent people from using drugs, manufacturing drugs, and to put a stop to the crime, corruption and death that is taking place on an industrial scale around the world. More than half of the British public and three quarters of MPs believe that Britain’s current drug policies are ineffective and a new approach is needed.

The time for a root and branch reform of UK cannabis policy is long overdue. Following the lead of the USA, who legalised recreational marijuana in a further four states in November, we must start discussing ways to regulate cannabis in the UK. The UK should legalise cannabis to ensure that the product meets acceptable standards, remove criminal gangs form the equation, raise revenue for the Treasury and protect public health.

The legal UK cannabis market could be worth £6.8bn annually, and produce benefits to the government of between £750m and £1.05bn in tax revenues and lower criminal justice costs. The numbers of offenders in prison for cannabis related offences in England and Wales would also be likely to drop from the current 1,363 inmates, costing the taxpayer £50m a year.

The World Health Organisation agrees that prohibition has led to policies and enforcement practices that entrench discrimination, propagate human rights violations, contribute to violence related criminal networks and deny people access to the interventions they need to improve their health. The British Medical Journal has come out in support of legalisation, stating that the ban on the production, supply, possession and use of some drugs for non-medical purposes was causing huge harm.

More than 90 countries have at least begun to introduce harm reduction policies alongside those aimed at enforcement and punishment. The Netherlands has effectively decriminalised cannabis since 1976 and Portugal since 2001.Germany is on the brink of fully legalising cannabis for medicinal purposes and Canada is paving the way for full legalisation and regulation.

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has said: “Knowing what I know now, I would resist the temptation to resort to the law to tackle the harm from cannabis.” We must overcome the prejudices and the negative language surrounding cannabis to create a new drugs strategy that actually works for the UK. 

Liberal Democrat MP Nick Clegg said:
“British politicians need to open their eyes to what is happening in the rest of the world. Cannabis prohibition is being swept away on a tide of popular opinion and replaced with responsible legal regulation. Now is the time for Ministers to start writing the rules for this legal market, including age limits and health warnings, so that we can finally take back control from the criminal gangs.”

Co-Leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas MP, said:

“The ‘War on Drugs’ has been an abject failure, and the continued criminalization of cannabis users is deeply counterproductive. Britain needs an evidence-based drugs policy, rather than continuing the expensive and ineffective prohibition regime. I welcome this study and urge Government ministers to urgently take a fresh look at our drugs laws.”

Labour MP Paul Flynn said: 
“The UK's 45 years of harsh prohibition has multiplied use and harm. A legal market would destroy the drug's attraction as forbidden fruit and encourage users to ingest cannabis, of known strength and quality, in ways that will the avoid deadly dangers of smoking.”

Conservative MP Peter Lilley said:
“It is time we legalized cannabis.  Currently cannabis can only be obtained from illegal gangs who also push hard drugs.   So we are driving soft drugs users into the arms of hard drugs pushers.”

Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said:
“While recognising the harm that can be caused by enriched and artificial drugs based on cannabis, I do support the legalisation of natural cannabis and would welcome an independent inquiry into the effectiveness of drug policy in general. There can be no doubt that just as Prohibition – on the sale of alcohol – failed in the United States and encouraged gangsterism, the banning of drugs has promoted a wicked and lucrative black market which pushes illegal drugs on the innocent. The argument that excessive amounts of even natural cannabis might do harm just doesn’t wash. The same can be said of alcohol or even sugary drinks; both of which can eventually lead to death. We need a grown up debate on this whole issue and a national education programme on the use and abuse of drugs.”
 
Steve Moore, Director, Volteface, said:
“The global movement towards legalisation, regulation and taxation of cannabis is now inexorable. Today in the UK there is capricious policing of cannabis and no regulation of its sales and distribution.  This quasi-decriminalisation of cannabis leaves criminals running a multi-billion dollar racket and exposes teenage kids to criminality. The evidence is now clear that regulated markets for cannabis cut crime and protect vulnerable children. The Government's current policy vacuum is untenable in the face of this evidence.”
 
Sam Bowman, Executive Director at the Adam Smith Institute, said:
“As Canada becomes the first G7 country to legalise cannabis for recreational use and more and more big US states do the same, Britain needs to re-evaluate its own drugs policies to make sure this growing market is in the hands of legitimate, regulates businesses – not criminal gangs. We have a growing body of evidence from abroad that legalisation and smart regulation are much better ways of curbing the harms cannabis can cause to users and their communities, and that straightforward bans just push users into the hands of criminals. Cannabis is enjoyed by many otherwise law-abiding people and making criminals of them makes an ass of the law – the only sensible approach now is to legalise and regulate.”

Hurrah for Sajid Javid and his planning reforms

Following the news that the government plans to relax planning restrictions to allow more homes to be built, Ben Southwood made these delighted comments:

“Hurrah for Sajid Javid, as he proposes to drop light restrictions in order to build more terraces and mansion blocks.

"Cities do not need to be like Hong Kong to give everyone decent living space at reasonable rents: places like Paris and Barcelona are far denser than Oxford, Manchester or London, without being dystopian. Inner London itself has shed people since we replaced its terraces with towers, and those that remain are widely sought after.

“Javid and the government must push ahead with these reforms and more, including building on a small fraction of the Green Belt, so Britain’s cities can look more like central Paris and less like suburban Moscow."

For further information or to arrange an interview please email flora@adamsmith.org.

Sam Bowman calls for the abolition of Stamp Duty in The Daily Telegraph

Sam Bowman writing for the Daily Telegraph has called for abolition of Stamp Duty, calling it the worst tax we have.

This week we learnt that George Osborne’s 2014 reforms of the tax created nearly as many problems as they solved, reducing both revenues and transactions. It might well be the worst tax we have, and it generates less than 2 per cent of total tax yields. Forget reforming stamp duty – we should be scrapping the damned thing altogether.

The more buyers and sellers there are in a market the better things are for all of these people. Lots of buyers and sellers means more output for everyone, and competition keeps prices down. Stamp duty land tax is often what gets in the way. It is what economists refer to as a 'transactions tax', meaning that it gums up the system and adds costs to buyers and sellers of properties, putting both off that exchange.

The case against stamp duty is simple and powerful. It locks people into properties they don't want to be in and imposes huge costs on one of the most important purchases people will ever make. It is rightly resented by all who have to deal with it, and the forgone revenues would likely be made up for by the increased economic activity that scrapping would generate. The new Chancellor has a lot to do, but eliminating stamp duty should be top of his agenda. 

Read the article in full here.

Sam Bowman appears on BBC News to discuss trade after Trump

Remembering Milton Friedman ten years on

ASI support for Indian immigration covered in The Times and Guardian

Sam Bowman's comments supporting further Indian immigration to the UK were covered in The Times and the Guardian.

The Times reported (twice):

Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute think tank, said: “A free trade deal with India that also made it easier for skilled Indian workers to come to Britain would be win/win for us, and be a real coup by making the UK the first major economy to strike a deal with India.

“More Indian immigration, especially more skilled immigration, would be great for Britain. India’s IT sector is booming, and making it easier for British firms to hire some of that talent would be a big boost to our own technology companies.”

The Guardian reported:

Sam Bowman, executive director of the Adam Smith Institute, agreed that May ought to be more flexible on migration. “India’s position that a trade deal with Britain must include looser migration controls on Indian migrants is good news for Britain. A free trade deal with India that also made it easier for skilled Indian workers to come to Britain would be win-win for us, and be a real coup by making the UK the first major economy to strike a deal with India,” he said.

Brexit supporters told voters with links to Commonwealth countries that leaving the EU would allow an immigration system that was fairer towards people from their countries. However, if May is to meet her promise of cutting net migration to the tens of thousands, she will need to reduce migration from across the world. Bowman argued that British people were relaxed about skilled workers and students arriving in Britain, and said the cap had become an “albatross hanging around the government’s neck”.

More Indian immigration would be great for Britain says Sam Bowman

Theresa May says she would consider relaxing Britain's visa restrictions for Indian citizens, but only if the return of those living here illegally is sped up. 

Sam Bowman, Executive Director of the Adam Smith Institute, said:

"India’s position that a trade deal with Britain must include looser migration controls on Indian migrants is good news for Britain. A free trade deal with India that also made it easier for skilled Indian workers to come to Britain would be win/win for us, and be a real coup by making the UK the first major economy to strike a deal with India.

"More Indian immigration, especially more skilled immigration, would be great for Britain – India’s IT sector is booming, and making it easier for British firms to hire some of that talent would be a big boost to our own technology companies. And more flexibility about temporary work visas is essential to liberalising trade in services, where workers sometimes have to locate abroad for months to deal with a foreign client.

"The only barrier to this win/win outcome is political: the government’s crude migration cap, which does not differentiate between students and highly skilled migrants, who the public itself is relaxed about, and unskilled migrants. India is just another example of this cap making trade deals hard to negotiate: China, too, may demand freer movement in exchange for freer trade.

"The migration cap has turned into an albatross hanging around the government’s neck, and if we are to make Brexit a success it needs to be significantly reformed or, better yet, scrapped altogether."

Sam Dumitriu defends Uber relentlessly after ruling

Following the disappointing Uber ruling Head of Projects at the Adam Smith Institute, Sam Dumitriu, appeared across all the major news networks and nationals defending the gig economy giant.

Appearing on Sky Sunrise the morning of the ruling to kick things off Sam went on to appear on Sky News, BBC Breakfast and LBC.

And across major commercial stations including Heart, Magic and Xfm.

Ben Southwood, Head of Research also gave an interview to LBC on the ruling, further cementing the ASI as a lead commentator on the story.

ASI reaction to Uber ruling: This is disappointing for drivers and consumers

Sam Dumitriu, Head of Projects at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

"This is a disappointing decision for both the 40,000 Uber drivers and the hundreds of thousands of Uber users across the UK.

"Nearly 80% of Uber drivers preferred being self-employed and being their own boss, saying in a recent poll that they wouldn’t trade that in for some of the benefits of worker status like holiday pay, pension contributions and the National Minimum Wage.

"Uber drivers typically earn well above the National Living Wage. Across the UK, the average driver earns £16 an hour, that's after Uber has taken their commission, but before you factor in extra costs like insurance, petrol and car payments. One you factor that in it comes to around £12 an hour, still well above the minimum wage. It's higher for drivers in London and it's higher for drivers who work at peak times like Saturday evening.

"Consumers will see prices rise and a less stable, predictable service. And this doesn't just hit Uber. It threatens other new business models like Deliveroo and Amazon Prime Now."

For further comments or to arrange an interview, contact Flora Laven-Morris, Head of Communications, at flora@adamsmith.org | 07584 778207.

Benefits to Brexit? Our Sinnovation paper according to Metro

When the Metro asked what good had come from Brexit the ASI's Sinnovation paper was the highlight of the list.

The Metro reported:

That’s right, apparently now we’re leaving the EU we can binge-drink without feeling crap the next day. According to the Adam Smith Institute, after Brexit the UK will be allowed to develop synthetic alcohols, which get people tipsy but without the awful headache and shame that inevitably follows the next morning. While there wasn’t anything specifically banning the development of drinks such as Alcosynth, the EU’s complex health and safety laws made it commercially unviable.