Photo: LSJ News
Large public support for legalising the Class B drug cannabis has been revealed in an opinion poll.
47 per cent of people questioned were in favour of legalising the sale of the drug through licensed shops in a similar way to how chemists operate.
The survey of 2,000 people was conducted by polling company ORB and published by online news organisation, The Independent.
The Liberal Democrats have also announced their support for the proposals – becoming the first political party in the UK to do so.
The party’s health spokesperson and a former health minister in the coalition Norman Lamb MP said: “I’m very proud this party has taken a principled stand and led the way. The war on drugs has been a catastrophic failure.
“Regulating the sale of cannabis, controlling the potency and taking the trade away from criminals makes sense in terms of public health and community safety.”
Dispelling health concerns, chair of the local Liberal Democrats Ross Pepper said: “The party fully accepts that cannabis. like any drug, can pose risk for the user.
“But we are pragmatic and realise that people take cannabis for either recreational or medicinal purposes and the policy aims to minimise the harms.”
The party also say that £1billion worth of tax revenue could be generated as a result of legalisation and participants were informed of this before they answered the survey.
We asked some people in Lincoln what they thought of the prospect:
Do you support the legalisation of cannabis? Let us know in the comments box below or tweet us on @LSJTweets.