Release has launched its new report exploring equity and social justice initiatives within UK cannabis reform.
In admittance to the failure of the War on Drugs, countries across the globe are adopting more progressive approaches to drug policy. In particular, addressing cannabis-related policy.
The new report from Release highlights how the UK is lagging behind in this global conversation.
It states that the UK must repair the harms and historical injustices done by cannabis prohibition, and contains 14 equity principles to integrate into the UK’s future legal market to ensure a “just, fair and equitable cannabis market in the UK”.
The report, Regulating Right, Repairing Wrongs: Exploring Equity and Social Justice Initiatives within UK Cannabis Reform, is supported by 15 organisations including the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats for Drug Policy Reform.
The report states: “The foundations of cannabis prohibition and ethnicity are intertwined, and without recognising this legacy of racial injustice and the profound impact this has had (and continues to have) on Black and Brown communities, cannabis reform remains unfinished business.”
The disproportionate impact on minority groups
The report builds on the organisation’s national research which highlights the disproportionate policing relating to cannabis of ethnic minority and other disadvantaged groups.
It highlights that over half a million people are subject to police stop and search every year in England and Wales, with Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups being more than 4.1 times more likely to be searched than White people.
The report states that: “The disparity is particularly pronounced for Black people, who were 8.9 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people, despite being no more likely than the White population to use controlled substances.”
Read more: London to trial new diversion pilot for cannabis possession
With only 20 per cent of searches (2019/20) resulting in an outcome linked to the reason for the search, highlights the report, this inequity has resulted in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) calling for a debate on the use of stop and search in the policing of controlled drugs.
Such harms surely need to be addressed imminently – however, one benefit of the UK’s lack of improvement on cannabis-related policy is that the country has the chance to implement best practice from the get-go, highlights report co-author, Amal Ali.
Ali stated: “The lack of progression to date in the UK means that thousands of people each year – disproportionately people from Black and other ethnic minority communities, and people living in poverty – continue to receive life-changing criminal records for cannabis-related offences.
“The only benefit to our lack of progression is that we are able to observe and adopt best practice from other jurisdictions that have pioneered social equity models of cannabis reform.
“We know that when these principles are not front and centre, people continue to be punished for cannabis use and the harms caused by the war on cannabis are not rectified.”
The report puts forward that any legal cannabis retail market “must adopt an anti-racist framework of policies and practices based on equity creation and must take steps to ensure diversity and inclusion among its actors”, as well as outlining a roadmap to prioritise and protect individuals vulnerable to the harms of prohibition in legal recreational markets.
Katrina Ffrench, founder and director of Unjust UK, commented: “The UK is headed towards a future where cannabis is legal and regulated, and this report by Release highlights the steps we must take to ensure that equity and social justice are at the foundation of any legalisation effort.
“Cannabis prohibition has disproportionately harmed Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and communities.
“To repair these wrongs, any legislation should ensure that members of these communities are not just welcomed, but actively assisted and empowered in a new legal cannabis market.”
Justice models for cannabis reform
Looking towards justice models of cannabis reform in the US, the report’s principles are designed to ensure that “the same people who are locked up by punitive drug policies are not locked out of the legal market.”
The principles focus on:
- Reinvesting tax revenue into over-criminalised communities and supporting harm reduction
- Removing criminal or civil sanctions for use or possession of cannabis
- Automatic release from prison for cannabis-related prisoners and expungement of past cannabis-related convictions
- Non-commercial domestic cultivation of cannabis
- Co-operative cannabis distribution models such as social clubs, among others.
Click here to read the full list of principles
Co-author and policy lead at Release, Dr Laura Garius, commented: “The UK Government’s new drug strategy regurgitated a ‘tough on drugs’ rhetoric, despite the Home Office’s own research concluding that the estimated £1.6bn spend per year on drug law enforcement is not impacting levels of drug use.
“Change is inevitable – cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug in the UK and the world, and it is simply too lucrative a market for politicians to ignore. However, we must make sure that cannabis will be regulated right.
“The legal renaissance of cannabis is a vital opportunity to address the harm that cannabis prohibition has caused to Black and Brown communities and to people with lived experience of cannabis policing.
“Social equity models of cannabis reform are already being developed around the world while the UK is left faltering behind. We must be prepared to follow in these footsteps and recognise that cannabis reform is not progressive if the harms continue for some.”
Senior Policy Analyst at Transform Drug Policy Foundation, Steve Rolles, stated: “The legal regulation of cannabis markets is no longer a theoretical discussion – it is being debated and implemented in jurisdictions on every continent.
“The inevitability of change creates a responsibility on policymakers to ensure that reforms serve the needs of the whole community, not just the profit-seeking priorities of big corporate actors.
“This means hardwiring a clear social justice agenda into legislation from the outset, in particular making sure that the marginalised communities who carried the greatest burden of the drug war’s failure are able to share in the peace dividends.”
Read more: It is time for London to pilot a legal cannabis industry
The paper emphasises that social equity and public health must be the primary goals of cannabis law reform in the UK, concluding that: “The war on drugs has been a costly failure and despite the countless lives that have been devastated, it is estimated that globally $100bn is devoted per annum to enforcement-led approaches.
“Despite the recent claims by current UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, that he has “absolutely no intention of legalising cannabis”, it is clear that the legalisation and regulation of cannabis for adult recreational use is fast approaching the UK, as demonstrated by the plethora of cannabis advisory companies and thinktanks that have emerged in recent years – and the influence of the market and lobbyists cannot be ignored.
“When this occurs, civil society must be prepared to push for reforms grounded in principles of racial and social justice, and we must ensure that any new framework does not lock out the very people who are locked up by punitive and racially-biased policies.”
The report has been also been endorsed by leading research and reform organisations including Drug Science, the Beckley Foundation, LEAP UK, Harm reduction International and more.
Release has published a signup form for any civil society organisation to sign should they wish to endorse the principles. Click here to find the form.
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