United Kingdom: bill to regulate cannabis completely nipped in the bud

A British MP has tabled a bill to legalize cannabis in the House of Commons, using the Ten Minute Rule, also known as Procedure 23, which involves introducing a private member's bill in addition to the 20 bills per session normally allowed in the House of Commons. The MP in question presents his or her proposal in 10 minutes, and the other MPs vote to decide whether the bill should follow the normal legislative route.

Legalization: a rational option

The proposal aimed to legalize the possession and consumption of cannabis and regulate its production, distribution and sale. It was introduced by Norman Lamb, a member of the Liberal Democrat party and former Minister of Health. During the debate, he pointed out that the United Kingdom recently legalized medical cannabis but that access to the latter is too limited. At the same time, practitioners continue to prescribe fentanyl, the opioid that leads to addiction and overdose.

To justify his proposal, the MP uses the classic arguments of cannabis activists, which are also found in numerous official and unofficial reports. Namely, that the war on drugs has been a catastrophic failure that has fomented violence in many communities, criminalized young people and enriched criminal organizations. He recommends following Canada's example in order to truly embrace a public health perspective and generate tax revenues.

House of Commons votes against @normanlamb's ten minute rule motion on the legalisation and regulation of cannabis by 66 to 52. He is not able to introduce his bill at this time.

- UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) December 11, 2018

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A «hypocritical» defeat»

In a relatively close vote of 66 to 52, MPs rejected the proposal, which was therefore not included in Parliament's agenda. «It's depressing that a rational, evidence-based reform should be opposed by Conservative MPs,» complained Norman Lamb. As for the Labour Party MPs, they were invited to abstain. But their votes could have been decisive. On the party's twitter page, it was stated that the proposal «had no realistic chance of becoming law regardless of the outcome».

MPs are voting on a ten rule bill on Cannabis legalisation and regulation. This is the first stage of the bill and it has no realistic chance of making it into law regardless of the result at around 2:10pm. pic.twitter.com/c1PXnymTzv

- Labour Whips (@labourwhips) December 11, 2018

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Norman Lamb sees this rejection as hypocrisy: «It's total hypocrisy that the most dangerous drug of all time, in terms of danger to self and others, alcohol, is consumed in large quantities right here in our national Parliament while we criminalize others for using a less dangerous drug - one that many use to relieve their pain,» he said in view of the results. “It's a disgrace that we continue to criminalize people for using cannabis to treat their pain. It's also a shame that we criminalize many young people for their use of cannabis when many people in government have surely used cannabis themselves at some point in their lives,» he added.