Lib Dems pledge to legalise cannabis and allow it to be sold on the high street
Sales of the drug would be strictly regulated under the party's manifesto proposals and people will have to be over 18 to buy it.
Friday 12 May 2017 12:59, UK
Cannabis could be legalised, taxed and sold on the high street if the Liberal Democrats win the general election.
The party has confirmed that radical plans to relax drugs law to create a legal market for the production and sale of marijuana will be included in its manifesto.
It says the estimated £1bn of tax the plan would generate every year would be reinvested into education and treatment.
Sales of the drug would be strictly regulated under the new proposals and people will have to be over 18 to buy it.
It would only be available through licensed outlets.
Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrat candidate and former Home Affairs Select Committee member, said this would take control back from criminal gangs as well as protecting young people with a legal, regulated market.
He explained: "Cannabis is freely available and widely used. It generates significant health problems and vast profits for organised crime.
"The current approach is a disaster for young people, whose mental and physical health is being harmed by an increasingly potent product.
"There are no age checks, and no controls on quality or strength. 'Skunk' is widespread and the only ID you need to buy it is a £20 note.
"Successive governments have ceded total control of a significant public health problem to organised crime."
Mr Hubbert claimed the cannabis on sale would be made safer by limiting the level of the active component THC and requiring all products to contain CBD which is believed to reduce the harmful effects.
The Lib Dems have long campaigned to legalise the drug, with former health minister Norman Lamb attempting to bring in a Bill last year to tackle what he called "a catastrophic failure" of the war on drugs.