Cannabis does cause some people some problems. A lot of those problems are caused by criminalisation and illegality.

It allows gangs to profit and benefit, to manipulate people, to create modern slaves… It creates social stigma and prevents people with problems seeking help.

But we only need to look to countries like Portugal to see that things can be done differently, to benefit society and to benefit people who would otherwise find themselves with problems.

Many people use many substances. Legal, illegal, frowned upon or not.

It’s been proven that we can’t stop substance use. As a society we need to choose if we wish to make things safer by having a legal framework that helps pay for itself and helps those that need support… Or whether we want an unsafe, uncontrolled market that can encourage gangs to exploit people and that adds more and more costs to the national bill - whilst increasing problems for normal people.