In the UK, possessing or supplying drugs is illegal, and in theory, this should stop people from getting hold of drugs to begin with. In reality, this approach has failed with drug deaths per 100,000 people standing at 4.23. That makes the UK one of the highest countries both in Europe and in the world as a whole for deaths caused by drug disorders as a proportion of the population.

This is perhaps the best place to start looking at cannabis laws because it is drug deaths are one of the main things we should seek to avoid. The UK has failed in this respect, and yet we are still trying the same tactic. The reason for this failure comes from the war on drugs, that lost.

Why the war on drugs failed

The war on drugs is a war against drugs themselves and the people who supply or use them. It involves criminalisation and trying to tackle groups transporting drugs to reduce or end their usage. This approach was taken on a large scale by the United States, which was trying to stop the flow of drugs from South America.

The war itself failed completely, and if anything, it had the opposite effect. The Global Commission on Drug Policy said that “In practice, the global scale of illegal drug markets – largely controlled by organised crime – has grown dramatically over this period” and this is a very predictable outcome. If you cut the supply of drugs, the demand will not decrease; the people who want drugs will still want them. Drugs will still be transported to them, but instead of being sold legally, gangs will take over supplying illegal substances. This created a system of drug transportation and distribution that is opposite to winning a war on drugs. It just drove it underground.

First, the strength of cannabis increased to fit more into smaller packages. Smaller packages meant less chance of being discovered and made it easier to be transported. When this gets to the buyers, it either means they end up with stronger drugs or drugs that contain other substances to increase the weight of drugs when they are being sold. These extra substances can be toxic in their own right.

Second, there is the issue that these drugs are sold by gangs to begin with. Without another legal supplier, these groups end up supplying drugs and making large amounts of money from doing so. In the UK, this resulted in country lines where drugs are transported through rural areas and towns. These issues show that the war on drugs attempted to reduce drug consumption, but instead it increased consumption and made drugs more dangerous.

The case for cannabis legalisation

The case for legalisation comes from the countries around the world that have legalised cannabis themselves. It solves a lot of the problems that came from the war on drugs. It replaces gangs and county lines with legal suppliers who are regulated to ensure the drugs they sell are safe.

There are two routes that countries can go down, legalisation and decriminalisation. Portugal has decriminalised cannabis, which means having small amounts for personal use is not illegal. Making cannabis legal in South Africa means both the sale of cannabis and having it for personal use. Legalising the sale means the ability to regulate production and tax cannabis when it is sold. For cannabis and other lower-level drugs, legalisation seems like a more proportional response than trying to criminalise them. For higher-level drugs, decriminalisation is a better alternative.

A change in the law is not enough however, we need to start “turning addicts from criminals into patients“, an aim of Norman Lamb. Instead of putting people in prison, they should receive help in a form similar to the Dissuasion Commission in Portugal but focused instead purely on access to support and medical help.

However, there is some real hope for this approach within the UK. The Nordic countries are similar to the UK in terms of deaths from drug use disorders per 100,000, with 4.55 deaths per 100,000 in Norway. Norway is moving towards decriminalisation of drugs, and polling within the UK is showing that a similar shift may happen.

It is time the UK took a new approach to cannabis and learnt from the failures of the past. Legalisation and treatment are the way forward, not thinking criminalisation will help people get away from drugs.