Items tagged with decriminalization and UK

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Cannabis brain effects study struggles to attract black UK users [24.09.2023] A major study into the effects of cannabis on the human brain is at risk of being partially thwarted because too few black users have agreed to take ...
Sadiq Khan appoints drugs tsar to explore legalising cannabis [12.05.2022] Sadiq Khan has appointed a drugs tsar to explore the potential benefits of legalising cannabis. The mayor has asked Lord Falconer, formerly Lord Chan ...
Sadiq Khan drug ‘decriminalisation’ plan ‘does not go far enough’, say experts [05.01.2022] Sadiq Khan’s proposed plan to end the prosecution of young people caught with cannabis in three London boroughs “does not go far enough”, according t ...
Sadiq Khan plans pilot to ‘decriminalise’ minor cannabis offences in London [04.01.2022] Downing Street has expressed concern over moves to end the prosecution of young people caught with cannabis in some London boroughs, under a pilot sc ...
You’ll never have a drug-free society, expert warns UK [07.11.2021] The Home Office should climb off its “high horse of oppression and prohibition” and stop pursuing the “fantasy” of a drug-free society, the chair of ...
Warnings instead of prosecution for Class A drug users [22.09.2021] People caught with Class A drugs in Scotland could be given a police warning instead of facing prosecution. Officers can already issue a formal warni ...
Mayor of London to examine benefits of cannabis legalisation [05.04.2021] The mayor of London is to launch a review examining the feasibility of decriminalising cannabis as part of a new approach to tackling drug-related cr ...
Drug deaths: ‘Scotland should decriminalise and dare Westminster to block it’ [15.01.2021] Scotland should tackle its drug deaths crisis by pushing towards decriminalisation and daring Westminster to try to block it. The powers to decrimina ...
5 ways the UK could legalise cannabis [02.07.2020] With more than half of people in the UK in favour of legalising the recreational use of cannabis, and countries around the world adopting more libera ...
What can be done about Scotland's drugs crisis? [26.02.2020] Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related deaths in Europe and the numbers are continuing to rise at an alarming speed. Both the Scottish governm ...
Consider decriminalisation to tackle drug death ‘crisis’, say treatment providers in unprecedented plea [01.12.2019] The future UK government has been urged to consider every available measure to curb the current drug death “crisis”, including decriminalisation, in ...
SNP formally backs decriminalisation of drugs [13.10.2019] The SNP has backed decriminalising the possession and consumption of drugs. At its conference in Aberdeen, a resolution was unanimously passed by del ...
Cannabis being decriminalised by back door, MPs warn [27.04.2019] Police have been accused of decriminalising cannabis by stealth as forces recorded a drop in possession offences of up to 75 per cent in a decade. Mo ...
‘You can’t arrest your way out of record drug-related deaths,’ say police [24.04.2019] In what is effectively de facto drug decriminalisation, people caught in possession of personal amounts of controlled substances in a number of polic ...
Thames Valley Police 'won't arrest drug users' in pilot [17.12.2018] People found with "small quantities of illegal drugs" will not be arrested and instead urged to engage with support services, as part of a police pil ...
Police drugs lead 'impressed' by cannabis clubs [13.11.2018] Hardyal Dhindsa, who is the lead on substance abuse for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, has said the war on drugs is not working. ...
Majority of British public support legalisation of cannabis, survey reveals [29.10.2018] The British public strongly supports the legalisation of cannabis, according to a new poll. Fifty-nine per cent of people surveyed strongly support o ...
Police ‘decriminalising cannabis’ as prosecutions fall away [14.07.2018] Police forces are in effect decriminalising cannabis, campaigners say, after uncovering figures that show a substantial fall in the number of prosecu ...
The war on drugs has failed: doctors should lead calls for drug policy reform [13.11.2016] Three United Nations treaties, the oldest from 1961, seek to "advance the health and welfare of mankind" by prohibiting the non-medical use of some d ...
These British police forces have stopped arresting drug users [18.10.2016] People caught carrying personal amounts of drugs, including cocaine and heroin, are being diverted away from the criminal justice system in what coul ...
Weed is effectively legal in the UK [22.08.2016] Arrests for cannabis possession in England and Wales have fallen by 46 percent since 2010. Cautions have dropped by 48 percent and charges by 33 perc ...
Health bodies call for drugs to be decriminalised [16.06.2016] Two leading public health organisations have called for the possession and personal use of all illegal drugs to be decriminalised in the UK. The Roya ...
Cannabis users to be given on-the-spot warnings to free up police time [10.12.2015] People caught with small quantities of cannabis will face on-the-spot warnings from police rather than prosecution. Scottish officers will next month ...
Steep fall in cannabis offences points to silent relaxation of drugs policy [17.10.2015] The number of cannabis possession offences in England and Wales has plummeted since 2011 as forces divert shrinking budgets into tackling more seriou ...
Police force gives cannabis users green light to grow drugs [21.07.2015] Durham Police has given users the green light to grow cannabis at home after declaring that officers will no longer proactively target small scale pr ...
Labour's 'appalling gutter politics' on drugs [30.03.2015] Campaigners for a more evidence-based drug policy are horrified. "It’s a classic and appalling example of gutter politics,” says Martin Jelsma, Direc ...
UK should begin decriminalising drugs, say Richard Branson and Nick Clegg [03.03.2015] Sir Richard Branson and Nick Clegg are urging the UK to begin decriminalising the use and possession of almost all drugs, following the example of Po ...
Drugs in the UK: Why we need to talk about regulation and decriminalisation [30.01.2015] Fighting the war on drugs in the UK costs an estimated £13 billion annually. It has cost lives recently, too; four people died after taking ecstasy p ...
Norman Baker: 'Genie is out the bottle' on drug reform [30.10.2014] Westminster has finally reached a tipping point in the drug debate and radical change is now becoming possible, Norman Baker has said. The Liberal De ...
Huge majority thinks 'war on drugs' has failed, new poll finds [04.10.2014] An increasing proportion of Britons favours a more liberal approach to drugs and would support decriminalisation strategies, according to a comprehen ...
Criminologist refutes cannabis-related crime increase claims [07.04.2013] Criminologist Professor Alex Stevens has refuted media reports that reducing penalties for cannabis possession has led to increased drug use, crime a ...
Decriminalise heroin and cocaine says Belfast drugs worker [14.02.2013] One of Northern Ireland's most senior drugs workers has said that class A drugs like heroin should be decriminalised, regulated and made available on ...
Towards a Safer Drug Policy [14.01.2013] For forty years the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 has formed the corner stone of drug policy in Britain. The emergence of new psychoactive substances (‘le ...
Make legal highs available for sale, government urged [14.01.2013] The least harmful new "legal highs" should be made readily available for sale under strictly regulated conditions rather than being immediately banne ...
Decriminalise drugs – it would reduce the level of harm in Britain [13.01.2013] The all-party parliamentary group on drug policy reform undertook an inquiry into the implications of the arrival of "legal highs" – a new substance ...
Nick Clegg and David Cameron clash over drug law reforms [14.12.2012] Divisions between David Cameron and Nick Clegg over Britain's "war on drugs" emerged on Friday after the Liberal Democrat leader said that current po ...
David Cameron urged to take 'now or never' step on drugs reform [09.12.2012] David Cameron should urgently set up a royal commission to consider all the alternatives to Britain's failing drug laws, including decriminalisation ...
Portuguese drug policy shows that decriminalisation can work [09.12.2012] The Home Affairs Select Committee in the United Kingdom report on drug policy draws on lessons from Portugal’s decriminalisation of drug possession a ...
It's drugs politics, not drugs policy, that needs an inquiry [16.10.2012] What should be researched is not drugs policy but drugs politics, the hold that taboo has on those in power, and the thrall that rightwing newspapers ...
Decriminalise drug use, say experts after six-year study [15.10.2012] A six-year study of Britain's drug laws by leading scientists, police officers, academics and experts has concluded it is time to introduce decrimina ...
Class A drugs 'should be decriminalised,' says former drug advisor Professor David Nutt [30.05.2012] Drugs such as LSD and MDMA should be decriminalised and sold in pharmacies, the government's former chief drug advisor has said. Professor David Nutt ...
Liberal Democrats want inquiry into decriminalising drug possession [04.08.2011] Liberal Democrats are expected to call for an independent inquiry into the decriminalisation of possession of all drugs. A motion to be put at the pa ...
Decriminalise possession of drugs, celebrities urge government [02.06.2011] Dame Judi Dench, Sir Richard Branson, and Sting have joined an ex-drugs minister and three former chief constables in calling for the decriminalisati ...

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