Legalise cannabis sales to cut crime and save the NHS millions, says expert

do Daily Mail

Legalising cannabis and selling it alongside cigarettes and alcohol would cut crime and costs to the NHS, Britain's leading expert on the drug has said.

Professor Roger Pertwee said that a system that legalises cannabis with very strict regulations 'could be the way forward'.

The Aberdeen University professor, who has dedicated the last four decades to researching the drug, said that the current prohibition clearly isn't working and feasible alternatives include producing branded products that undergo strict safety tests.

Professor Roger Pertwee says making cannabis as available as alcohol would prevent drug-related crime, and reduce the chances of people being introduced to harder narcotics

Made under licence, they would be free of contaminants and sold in shops, removing the risk of users also being sold harder drugs.

Those who wanted to use the drug could apply for a licence.

Professor Pertwee told the British Science Festival in Birmingham: 'We have to have a car licence, we used to have a dog licence, so why not have a cannabis licence so you can only take it if it is medically safe to do so?

'That would exclude some people who are have a risk of becoming schizophrenic.'

The drug's links to schizophrenia mean that licences should be restricted those age 21 and over, said the professor, who has advised the Government and the British Medical Association on the drug.

Calling for a public debate on the scenario, he said: 'We are allowed to take alcohol and smoke cigarettes and cannabis if it is handled properly is probably not going to be any more dangerous than that.

'I think that this could be the way forward but it might not work because it depends on a company coming forward and producing branded products.

'If you came up with a company that wanted to do that it would have to go through the same licensing process as a medicine and show it was safe.

'If it went through all these steps, I would be in favour of it.'

But drug campaigners described the scheme as 'foolish'.

Mary Brett, of Europe Against Drugs, said it was impossible to predict who would react badly to the drug.

Questioning the practicalities of policing such a scheme, she said: 'We have been terrible at keeping alcohol away from kids.  Why would we want to add to our misery?'