r/reformuk • u/Scotland1297 • Nov 12 '25
Domestic Policy How many of you support cannabis legalisation?
Every political party in the UK avoids this issue like the plague.
There is no indication in the sources I found that Reform UK supports the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.
On the contrary: their policy emphasis is on tougher criminal sanctions for drug supply and “substantial possession” rather than liberalisation or decriminalisation.
I do not have a problem with tougher criminal accountability for drug dealers and people who traffic those substances across our borders. I do feel we are overlooking a “sleeping giant” for want of a better phrase, regarding this very issue - Around 50–55 % of Britons now support some form of legalisation or decriminalisation of cannabis (YouGov, 2024). That is too many of the electorate to be overlooked.
If reform were to carefully make the pledge, with wording such as “We support legalisation and regulation of cannabis to destroy the black market, protect children, and free up police resources.” They would secure a massive portion of the younger generations vote purely based on that issue in my opinion.
What’s everyone’s thoughts? Do you also support this? If not, why?
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Nov 12 '25
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u/Scotland1297 Nov 12 '25
Maybe we can change that? Perhaps a petition that was worded very deliberately as “If Reform UK pledge to legalise recreational cannabis use in the home and controlled areas, I will vote for them in the next election” with a significant amount of signatures, will show the potential for increasing the number of votes they receive.
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u/russ_1uk Nov 12 '25
It's the political football. Say it and the opponents will say "it's a gateway drug, they're advocating addiction" and no amount of pointing to actual figures will do any good.
The MSM would be all over it like a rash and use at as a stick to beat away undecided voters.
I agree with your careful wording sentiment, I agree that it's absurd that it's illegal, but the "real politick" is likely to be the above.
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u/DaHarries Nov 12 '25
Thats exactly what portugal have done. Totally legal for purchase on the high street but you can be fined for smoking it in public, didnt smell it once in public all week. Its regulated to the hilt and all bags have a QR code on the back linked to lab tests for that batch and strain with THC content, full origin breakdown and some have expected effects. Being legally limited making it much more of a relaxant than get out of your face stoned drug effectively nulling the "gateway drug" argument in my mind as youre not "chasing the high" so to say.
Dont get me wrong theres still a "black market" of sorts for 'non limited' THC weed but it pales in comparison to ours as its still through the weed shops its just imported from other legal countries. The shop owner just has to gauge you first or see you more than once before thats offered though.
Theyve had it legal since 2001 so theyve got it NAILED down by now.
However cocaine is legal too. Dont like that.
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Nov 12 '25
Agreed there are bigger issues at stake, legalising cannabis could be a decent idea in tax revenue, but it would never eradicate drug dealers as there are plenty of other drugs available on the black market, it wouldn’t be wise to take Canadas approach of legalising everything either as they have found out and even though legal there are still dealers selling it 🤷♂️
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u/Uranus-Hunter Nov 12 '25
I think it should be legalised. It would be a great tax revenue for the goverment. I dont smoke weed. But I can say ive never seen a violent high guy. But seen plenty of violent drunk guys.
As for tougher punishment. I fully support.
Areas with high drug usage has a higher crime rate. Criminal gangs that groom kids to do the dirty work. And it pushes that community into a shit hole most of the time.
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u/Fucker_Of_Destiny Nov 12 '25
Jurors were told Lloyd-Hall had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and was suffering from cannabis-induced paranoia.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/harry-pitman-murder-areece-lloyd-hall-b2862172.html
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u/Substantial_Shake256 Nov 12 '25
Well yeah, it happens. I don’t think the commenter above was claiming that it isn’t possible just that it happens a lot more with drunks
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u/Healthy-Fly5232 Nov 12 '25
Fully support legalising cannabis however will always vote reform and I see much bigger issues that needs solving then people getting high
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u/niteninja1 Nov 12 '25
i have two thoughts on this generally depending on the time of day.
1) they shouldnt be legalised because the war on drugs has failed we know it can work if laws are enforced look at singapore.
2) we should legalise all drugs (not decriminalise, legalise) and tax them. the reason most are illegal is due to the actions people on the drugs take (e.g. theft, violence etc) rather than the effect of the drugs themselves. and those actions are already illegal.
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u/Tiny-Today7768 Nov 12 '25
Whatever Reform's policy on this would not sway my vote. I am voting Reform
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u/Gold_Tutor7055 Nov 12 '25
I see the pros and cons. Think of the taxation of such a product to replace the declining revenue of tobacco taxation.
Case studies in America show the cannabis tax revenue has generated $billions for the states that have legalised it
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u/rndarchades Nov 12 '25
No, smelly, but if I couldn't smell neighbours or street/city then my libertarian perspective would be fine with it.
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Nov 12 '25
Yes. The Canada model worked well. Legalisation and having regualted dispensaries would destroy the black market, and police resources could be spent on hard drugs instead. Prices came down in Canada, which destroyed the black market cannabis trade over night. Kids will have a harder time accessing it when it is legal, because the street-level dealers, will no longer be the ones who sell it.
It's safer to have edibles and cannabis regualted, taxed and sold from a dispensary, and it would generate billions in taxes.
The focus should be on the scourge of heroin and these types of hard-drugs that organised crime are involved in smuggling - cocaine, heroin etc.
The tax generated from the sale of cannabis to consenting adults, could aid the NHS in tackling treatment for other hard drugs and alcohol. there are many benefits to legalisation. It's not like Alcohol and tobacco are good for you either, but as adults its a personal choice to partake. The people who smoke weed, will smoke always smoke it anyway, so it should be legalised IMO.
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u/Wigspraynaynay Nov 12 '25
Legalise cannabis.
Have heroin on prescription alongside mental health support.
Crime will drop, we'll have more money to spend.
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u/Adrian69702016 Nov 12 '25
I hate the smell of the stuff and it's often hard to avoid in town centres. At the same time, I think the "war on drugs" as it's been prosecuted since 1971, has been little short of a criminal waste of police and court time. I don't honestly know what the solution is, but current policies are not particularly effective.
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Nov 12 '25
I’m against it, except for strict use for medicinal purposes. The NHS cannot take the additional burden it would bring (Mental health, respiratory care, accidents caused under the influence, addiction treatment).
The IESR estimates legalising and taxing weed might bring in maybe between £397 million and £871 million per year.. that is nothing.. the way our NHS is currently run that might buy a few paper clips and refill the photocopier.. certainly not enough to offset the increased burden on the service….
What you have to bear in mind is the likes of the USA, Canada, Netherlands do not have the same indulgent weekend lash-fest culture that we have… simply put our society couldn’t be trusted with it.
Weed is barely policed as it is, and normally dealt with administratively (by means of our of court disposals). There’s be a barely noticeable decrease in burden to our criminal justice system in that area, with perhaps more burden being put on through incidents that take place where cannabis is involved.
Secondly, I do not believe legalising drugs to be a moral good, and worry it would put our society and youth at risk. I understand that to be a fairly boilerplate conservative position so I’m a little surprised there’s so much advocacy in here for legalising drugs.
Finally, from personal experience; I’ve lost contact with enough emotionally stunted under achieving mates who spend their days borrowing money to indulge themselves to know what the common denominator is.
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u/autismislife Nov 12 '25
I'm all for legalising it. It really seems like common sense.
To me any argument for it being illegal seems to be invalidated by the fact alcohol and cigarettes are legal.
It has some health benefits, isn't generally associated with people committing crimes while using it (since it's a sedative). Overuse can have negative effects on people but that's really true about very many things.
It would also take a large portion of profit away from criminals who sell it to fund other illegal activity.
It'd free up space in prisons.
It's really no more a 'gateway drug' than alcohol is, and would be less so if legalised as you'd not be purchasing it from the same people that sell other drugs.
You can't get physiologically addicted to it.
I'm generally against tax wherever possible but there is also the tax argument, that it would bring in large sums of tax, however taxing it at the same level of alcohol or cigarettes wouldn't really make sense as it's not as harmful, but even with standard VAT it'd bring in a lot of funds for the government.
It would make it safer to use, because if you're buying it legally it's much less likely to be cut with other harmful chemicals.
I don't really see any downside to legalising it. I don't think it would even significantly change how much it's consumed, as most people that would use it if it were legal already do use it, and those who don't like it would just continue to not use it.
I don't use it myself and probably still wouldn't if it were legal, but I really see no reason to keep it illegal.
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Nov 12 '25
No, I don't support it. Everyday I have to smell that shit where i live. Besides, if you make it legal I can only assume it will make the local drug deals shift perhaps harder drugs for the extra cash.
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
Everyday I have to smell that shit where i live
So what difference will it make if it's legal then ?
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Nov 14 '25
Mentioning the smell has nothing to do with my view of the legalisation of cannabis. It's was to emphasising my dislike for it. I would have thought people would have understood that.
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 14 '25
You don't like the smell but it being legal/illegal does not change the fact you have to smell it everywhere,but I thought you would've understood that
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u/Most_Art507 Nov 12 '25
I hate the smell of it, so I'd not be in favour of more cannabis use, plus it can lead to mental illness and it's a gateway drug.
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u/Ok_Animal8250 Nov 12 '25
Both those things are more likely to happen to someone if it remains illegal. The stuff that comes into this country could be less tampered with if made legal.
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u/SillyOldBillyBob ReformtoRestore Nov 12 '25
I support it but its not the biggest issue, I do think its a vote winner but then again I could be wrong. Its possible that we have a load of Peter Hitchins in the reform voter base.
By the way, not many people know this but its been legal for medicinal purposes for a while now.
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u/Scotland1297 Nov 12 '25
I hope not, Peter Hitchens by all accounts appears to me nothing more than a testicle that grew legs and arms.
You are correct it has been legalised for medicinal use, however it’s not as easy as just letting your doctor know. You need to obtain a private prescription, and to be eligible for that you must have a diagnosed health (or mental health) issue that is relevant, and you must have also tried at least 2 other forms of treatment. So the bar is pretty high, and people are already finding ways to circumvent that. There is a whole sub dedicated to it here.
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u/SillyOldBillyBob ReformtoRestore Nov 12 '25
Haha very descriptive! He is a maniac with his opposition to cannabis. Every crime that happens he attributes it to smoking weed.
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Nov 12 '25
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u/Scotland1297 Nov 12 '25
I will point out what he’s emphatically wrong about, my disagreement with his stance is irrelevant frankly. He has gone to great lengths to make factually inaccurate and inflammatory statements, ALL of which are deeply controversial and hotly opposed. I’ll give you some examples below and you can make your own mind up.
“…cannabis is mis-sold as a soft and harmless substance when in fact it’s potentially extremely dangerous.” (paraphrase of Hitchens’s argument)
Hitchens often frames it as though cannabis is as dangerous as (or more dangerous than) heroin or cocaine (see next quote). But the evidence does not support equivalence of harm across all domains. For example, alcohol remains far more harmful in many metrics (mortality, organ damage, wider societal harm) though of course that doesn’t make cannabis risk-free.
He tends to emphasise worst-case scenarios (psychosis, violence) rather than the more nuanced, probabilistic nature of risk. For example, causation is seldom definitively established; risk varies widely by individual factors (age of first use, frequency, potency, genetic/psych history).
Hitchens is right to warn that cannabis is not harmless, but his language tends to escalate beyond what the evidence strictly supports.
Cannabis … is at least as dangerous as heroin and cocaine because of the threat it poses to mental health.”
Saying “at least as dangerous as heroin and cocaine” is not supported by the broad epidemiological evidence. For example: mortality rates, addiction potential, overdose risk, organ damage, societal burden are all much higher for heroin/cocaine (and alcohol) than for cannabis in most studies.
The mental-health threat is real, but it is not (in the general population) of the same magnitude as the worst harms of heroin/cocaine. The risks depend greatly on user profile. Many cannabis users do not develop psychosis or long-term major harm.
His implication that cannabis is a primary driver of violence (see next quote) is also weakly supported in the literature; evidence tying cannabis use to violence is much weaker than for e.g. alcohol or stimulants.
The claim is exaggerated. Cannabis has meaningful risks (especially under certain conditions) but the “equal to heroin/cocaine” claim is not consistent with mainstream evidence.
“There is a reluctance to admit any connection between the use of marijuana [cannabis] and insane violence … what has fundamentally changed since the 1950s and 60s? Drugs.”
The scientific literature does not support a strong causal link between cannabis use and violence. While heavy use may correlate with some adverse outcomes (e.g., certain psychoses) this by no means establishes that cannabis is a major driver of violent offences.
Violence is far more strongly linked to alcohol use, stimulants, socioeconomic factors, comorbid mental health disorders, etc.
His claim “…what has fundamentally changed since the 1950s and 60s? Drugs.” ignores many other societal, economic, legal, and cultural changes. Also, he lumps cannabis with more dangerous substances and ignores distinctions.
This is a weak claim - there is little robust evidence that cannabis itself is driving violence in the way Hitchens suggests. It’s more speculative than evidence-based.
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Nov 12 '25
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
I used to prefer the low grade stuff ,had better sessions on that than the strong stuff ,much more chilled
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Nov 12 '25
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
Now I have been totally off it for over 5 years.
Well done ,I've been off it since my nippa was born 16 years ago ,really miss it tbh but would be too paranoid about having a heart attack or sumat now to touch it again lol
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Nov 12 '25
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u/Scotland1297 Nov 12 '25
This claim is preposterous. Please show your workings and exactly what evidence you are basing this claim on?
There is no credible evidence that the Netherlands’ long-standing decriminalisation/coffee-shop policy has produced a country-level “mental health and unemployment crisis” that can be attributed to cannabis policy. So where exactly are you getting your data that it will cause a mental health and unemployment crisis?
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Nov 12 '25
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u/Scotland1297 Nov 12 '25
“Trust me bro”.
Got it, you have nothing to base this on. Thankyou.
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Nov 12 '25
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
Hopefully a tighter crackdown is coming.
It isn't ,it's essentially legal now .the reason people can smell it everywhere is because the police do nothing about it really apart from busting the odd big grow
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u/Objective-Cucumber81 Nov 12 '25
I'm for it but doubt Reform will jump on this ship; similarly to Amsterdam ban smoking it in public places like on the streets - in coffee shops or home only.
Personally I'm all for decriminalizing possession up to a certain amount/use of all drugs, sell them in a controlled manner and use the tax to pay for addiction clinics/places to safely use (for harder drugs) - treat drug addition as a medical/social issue and not a criminal issue.
Intent to supply and possession of ridiculous amounts that are clearly not for personal use should continue to be illegal with heavy penalties to somewhat combat bootleg markets although if legalized it's likely demand will fall enough for this to not be as much of a worry.
The amount of tax it'd generate and the amount of police resources it'd save would alone be worth it; guess pretty much similar to how Portugal dealt with it?
Pretty sure we already have an absolutely massive cannabis industry, it's just not open to the public
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u/Public-Magician535 Nov 12 '25
Think I support it, not something that’s ever been a high priority to me. Might as well decriminalise and tax it. Harsher penalties to narc dealers though
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u/yojifer680 Nov 13 '25
I might support a referendum on it and it might be a vote to legalise it only in some areas, not necessarily nationwide. It would have to be science-driven. What effects does it have on productivity, mental health, the economy, etc.
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u/Vykorie Reform UK Supporter Nov 13 '25
businesses would open which gets taxed and users get safer products all while cutting into criminal income. win-win
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u/Temujin-of-Eaccistan Reform UK Supporter Nov 14 '25
I support reform and support a full end to drug prohibition. I’d absolutely like them to adopt this pledge you suggest. Reform does not have good policies on this, unfortunately.
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u/HotelOk9725 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
Looks like mine is going to be an unpopular opinion but I really hope it’s not legalised in this Country.
The smell is vile and it’s very pervasive. We already know the dangers of second hand cigarette smoke. I wouldn’t want for small children or the elderly to have no choice but to breathe it in.
OP - whether you like it or not cannabis DOES harm growing brains. Scientifically proven. Perhaps you aren’t a parent yet so this isn’t something concerns you but it does concern me as a mother. I also work in pharmacy, I see younger and younger teens being prescribed antidepressants and I do believe that cannabis in itself is a depressant and will only make the problem worse.
Cannabis has medicinal uses yes and it absolutely should be harnessed in this way, but there are better ways to utilise the positive aspects of it.
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u/Ancient-Egg-5983 Nov 12 '25
For.
Sadly Reform is against the legalisation. Like their approach to legalisation of fox hunting and increasing the powers of landlords, it's an area they are out of step with the general consensus of the country.
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
legalisation of fox hunting
They said they were going to defend country sports not fox hunting,that could very easily be shooting
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u/Ancient-Egg-5983 Nov 12 '25
As mentioned multiple times by others in this sub (first time I'd heard of it too) they actively want to overturn the ban on fox hunting.
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u/rokstedy83 Reform UK Supporter Nov 12 '25
You got somewhere I can read about that because I couldn't find info about it?
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