Legalise Cannabis Petition Gets Consideration In Parliament

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An e-petition to legalize marijuana in Britain is set for debate in parliament after it surpassed the 100,000 required signatures.

On Saturday 103,833 people had e-petitioned the parliament to press for a cannabis legalisation debate. The e-petition surpassed the needed 100,000 signatures required for a debate consideration. The e-petition website was put in place during the last government to bring people closer to the Palace of Westminster.

The petition came in the wake of Durham Constabulary announcing earlier in the week that anyone who grew cannabis for their own consumption would no longer be targeted by the police as their force no longer prioritised small-scale cannabis growers and users.

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The Daily Mirror reports:

Ron Hogg, police and crime commissioner in Durham, said he was trying to open up a debate about drugs policy in Britain.

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He said: “We are not prioritising people who have a small number of cannabis plants for their own use. In low level cases we say it is better to work with them and put them in a position where they can recover.”

However, the government responded to the announcement by reaffirming that growing cannabis is still illegal.

Campaigners who created the e-petition say that cannabis is a “a substance that is safer than alcohol, and has many uses. It is believed to have been used by humans for over 4000 years, being made illegal in the UK in 1925.”

The e-petition website was introduced by the previous coalition government in 2011 as a way to “build bridges between people and Parliament” following the MP expenses scandal.