UK's Labour Party Leaders Blast London Mayor Sadiq Khan's Plan To Decriminalize Cannabis

Last week, after visiting a cannabis dispensary in California, London's Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his plans to set up a commission with the task of decriminalizing cannabis in the United Kingdom. The first-ever London Drugs Commission will be chaired by ex-justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer QC. 

Shortly after, UK's Labour Party made it clear that it does not support Khan’s initiative to change the law regarding drugs. "Drugs policy is not devolved to mayors and under Labour would continue to be set by the national government.” 

The Backlash Against Khan Continued

After Home Secretary Priti Patel said Khan’s efforts were pointless as he “has no power to legalize drugs. They ruin communities, tear apart families and destroy lives,” Labour MP Edward Miliband jumped into the fray. Miliband is the current role of Shadow Secretary of State of Climate Change and Net Zero.

Labour is “not yet convinced” of the need to decriminalize marijuana, Miliband said, per The Huffington Post.

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Though Miliband has been known to support cannabis legalization, it seems on this occasion he was speaking for his party when he confirmed that Labour is not behind Khan’s plan.

“We welcome Sadiq looking at these issues because this debate carries on and should carry on. I’ve said in the past that this is something that needs to be looked at, I think you probably know that,” Miliband said. 

“But Labour’s shadow cabinet position, which is a position I support as a member of the shadow cabinet, is that we’re not yet convinced of the case for moving on decriminalisation, but obviously we’ll look at what Lord Faconer’s commission has to say.”

Other shadow cabinet members such as Yvette Cooper and Wes Streeting also agree that this marijuana decriminalization could make the party look like it's being soft on crime.

 “Yvette is furious about it,” a Labour source told HuffPost UK. “People are just rolling their eyes because it definitely is not the official party line.”

Photo: Courtesy of Richard Townshend - Gallery via Wikimedia Commons