British Parliament is set to debate the legalisation on cannabis after a petition received 200,000 signatures.
UK’s Metro reports that the petition was started by James Richard Owen, who argues that the legalisation of the production, sale and use of cannabis could bring in £900million in taxes, save £400million in policing and create over 10,000 new jobs.
The petition reached 200,000 signatures on September 9, and the Government announced that Parliament will debate the issue on 12 October.
In an official response to the petition, the Government said: ‘Substantial scientific evidence shows cannabis is a harmful drug that can damage human health.
‘There are no plans to legalise cannabis as it would not address the harm to individuals and communities.’
Accurate data in places which have legalised cannabis is thin, and will continue to be thin for a number of years, but there are early indications that the legalisation experiments in Colorado and Washington have been successful.
Violent crime is down, the criminal market has shrunk and tax revenue is more than twice the amount predicted for both states.
In Washington, traffic fatalities are at an all-time low and in Colorado, teen use of cannabis has dropped and adult use hasn’t changed.
