Cannabis plants seized in raid (From The Northern Echo)

Instead of producing cannabis in clandestine and often very unhealthy conditions, as is encouraged by prohibition, we need to be moving towards a more honest and open system of regulation. People will look back on this era of Cannabis prohibition much as we now look back and see how stupid alcohol prohibition was. This is all so damaging to society and every day the damage gets worse and harder to recover from. Can you imagine the power that the likes of Al Capone would now wield if the alcohol prohibition had been allowed to continue for nearly 100 years? They would have enough legislators in their pockets so that they could influence governments and ensure that alcohol prohibition continued. Now that is exactly the position the "drug barons" are in today. For this reason I believe that legalisation of Cannabis is the most urgent issue on this planet today.
What we need, instead of a blanket prohibition of Cannabis, is a proper legally regulated supply that will benefit the U.K. economy through huge tax revenues and free up the resources of the police and courts to deal with real crimes. Most of all a properly regulated supply will protect young people, as it is in the area of Age Limits that prohibition has proven such a huge failure. In countries where there is provision for the legal supply of Cannabis to adults the use of Cannabis, and indeed other substances as well, is greatly reduced amongst youngsters. This is because the licensed suppliers know full well that if they are caught supplying to minors they stand to lose their licence, so they just don't do it. Whereas in good old Blighty we have to soldier on with prohibition giving the whole market straight into the hands of dealers who simply want to see your money, they will sell Cannabis to anyone of any age. And that's not all! A few unscrupulous dealers will sometimes say "Oh sorry, I couldn't get any weed this week, this other stuff is all they had, why don't you try some?" and then proceed to offer Heroin.
So, legalise, regulate and tax the supply of Cannabis for a Britain that is happier, less violent and more affluent.”

Dan-Bognor you need to look at the medical statistics before you espouse your liberal attitudes. Proven facts are that long term cannabis users are creating massive problems in the mental health area. Most so called soft drug users will at some stage experiment with other substances not because of a lack of availability, but temptation. As for legislation, I prefer the Singaporean methodology... execute dealers, cold turkey for users followed by heavy sentencing. Not many druggies in Singapore I might add.