Pubdate: Sun, 08 Jul 2001 Source: Observer, The (UK) Copyright: 2001 The Observer Contact: http://www.observer.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315 Author: Faisal Islam SOFT DRUG TURNS TO HARD SELL Big business and the Treasury could cash in if cannabis were legalised in Britain, reports Faisal Islam In a field in southern England 15 tonnes of cannabis is being cultivated in a giant greenhouse with the blessing of the Government. Elsewhere in southern England, in Brixton to be precise, the drug is now smoked openly in the street, even outside the police station. Although the two events are unconnected, they appear to have unleashed a torrent of debate. Politicians from the Right and the Left are queuing up to call for a spectrum of measures, ranging from decriminalisation of the drug to its legalisation and sale at off-licences. The outgoing 'Drugs Tsar' Keith Hellawell, who once said that cannabis leads to harder drugs, was first sidelined, and then he performed a U- turn. With an illegal market in the drug worth around pounds4bn, it's no surprise that business, and perhaps the Inland Revenue, are following the debate. Institutional investors have been impressed with the small Hampshire- based pharmaceutical company that runs the secret growing facility. GW Pharmaceuticals is trying out cannabis-derived medicines. A recent share placement was six times oversubscribed. Justin Gover, GWP's managing director, says: 'Clearly the cannabis link gives us a higher profile. But what matters to us is the data from our clinical trials showing a medical benefit to people suffering from serious diseases.' The provision for this medical research required no change in the law. All that was needed was a Government assurance that the cannabis derivatives produced by GW would be legally rescheduled if the medicines were approved. But the big businesses, such as tobacco manufacturers, with strong interests in the wider debate are keeping rather tight lipped. When asked to comment, Gallaher and Imperial both say cannabis is illegal and a matter for Government policy. British-American Tobacco's Martin Broughton insists it had no plans to sell the drug if it became legal. But there certainly used to be. Three years ago, The Observer revealed that BAT had discussed secretly lacing cigarettes with 'subliminal' levels of marijuana, if it was ever legalised. The ideas were detailed in an internal memo which was forced into the public domain by litigation and cited in a US court case. Cigarette firms anticipating legalisation have already registered brand names with links to marijuana. In 1993 Philip Morris filed a trade-mark application in France for 'Marley'. The firm later denied this link. Other drug-related names registered by companies include Acapulco Gold and Red Leb. The BAT document considered 'the main threats to the smoking habit... and draws attention to the undoubted opportunities which exist in the development of future products'. Even if the drug were legalised, production of a packet of 20 'Marley' cannabis cigarettes is unlikely. 'It's more likely that you'd get spin-off companies, perhaps from the hand-rolling tobacco companies, getting involved,' says Clive Bates of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash). But there is a competitive battle. Bates believes that with products such as Benson & Hedges Mellow, tobacco firms are already toying with branding that would appeal to people who take cannabis. 'Tobacco companies are analysing their position vis-a-vis illegal drugs. They are a competitor for where cigarettes fit in the psyche of young people. They would not want smoking to become the Austin Allegro of drug use.' 'The Government could decriminalise some forms and legalise others. The advantage would be with the pharmaceutical and food companies which can demonstrate its safety,' says Bates. Indeed, with the Government approving cultivation of specific forms of cannabis for medical research, some say that they could then shut the door on any other type of legalisation. Howard Miller, pharmaceuticals analyst at stockbroker Teather and Greenwood, says: 'The larger pharmaceutical companies will be interested, but they will want to let GW make the moves, and dismantle the hurdles.' But perhaps the Government has too much of a vested interest, given the possible tax bonanza. If the cannabis consumed illegally now was produced and taxed in Britain in exactly the same manner as tobacco, some pounds16bn of excise taxes could be raised for the exchequer. That is enough to pay for 5p off the basic rate of income tax. But this figure is considered unrealistic for a number of reasons. It does not take account of changes in buying behaviour caused by legalisation, nor the split between demand for ready-made cannabis cigarettes and a roll-your-own product, which would likely be taxed less. Nor does it take account of the fact that a thriving black market is likely to remain that way if levying taxes increases the price fourfold. Matthew Atha, of the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit, suggests excise duty of between pounds2 and pounds3 a gramme, against a production cost of approximately 50p. With up to 1,500 tonnes consumed in the UK every year, up to pounds5bn tax could be raised. The nature of the wider illegal drugs economy makes calculations of its total cost difficult. Hellawell has estimated that the cost of law enforcement alone in the UK at pounds1.4bn a year. The cost of the crime associated with drugs is put at pounds1.5bn. Mo Mowlam, the former Labour Cabinet Minister, says taxes on legalised drugs could help fund the NHS treatment of addicts. Peter Lilley, the Conservatives' former deputy leader, argues that the experience of the Netherlands suggests treatment costs would be unlikely to rise. 'The Dutch have legal outlets and consume less than we do,' he says. Perhaps more controversially, such a move could help with the Chancellor Gordon Brown's efforts to infuse a culture of entrepreneurship and risk- taking in urban areas requiring regeneration. This is the view of the New Economics Foundation's Ed Mayo: 'By pathologising drug taking, successive governments have ended up with the worst of all worlds. 'On the one hand, they have created a highly entrepreneurial risk-taking web of supply and demand, which filters drugs through to every street, every estate and every tenement in the land. On the other, they have thrown the problem of dealing with the devastating neighbourhood impacts of drugs on stretched statutory and non-profit services, that instead of being able to build literacy, awareness and restraint are left picking up the pieces.' Indeed, the Dutch experience suggests that decriminalisation leads to the emergence of cooperatives and small-scale businesses in areas that do not attract much investment. Lilley's suggestion that there should be special 'cannabis off-licences' offers one example. 'Every pound spent by users for drugs on the street incurs many times that cost for society in health and policing. Rather than simply offset that onto wider taxpayers, is there not a case for decriminalising soft drugs and levying a tax so that the consumer pays, legitimate enterprises can emerge, and the services dealing issues that underpin substance abuse, such as poverty and self esteem, be fully funded?' says Mayo. Cannabis legalisation as an agent of urban regeneration? The Chancellor won't be designing that new tax credit just yet. 'There is so much evidence that cannabis works in a medicinal sense' Medicines developed by GW Pharmaceuticals' are exclusively derived from specially-prepared cannabis plants. Every stage of the development process is licensed by the Home Office. Development and cultivation is at a secure greenhouse - cameras are pointed at every plant. GW's leading treatment, a drug for multiple sclerosis sufferers, is already undergoing clinical tests. It is scheduled for release at the beginning of 2004, followed by treatments for cancer pain and rheumatoid arthritis. Longer-term plans include treatments for epilepsy. Once one of GW's medicines is approved it throws open the possibility for doctors to prescribe it for other conditions too. 'Official statistics show that 4% of MS sufferers smoke cannabis. There's so much evidence that cannabis works in a medicinal sense. But there are a lot of people who don't want to break the law,' said managing director Justin Gover. GW raised pounds25m with its recent institutional placement, which will fund expansion plans. Its market capitalisation is now pounds155m. The share price fell on Friday following a report in the British Medical Journal which questioned the therapeutic value of cannabis. 'We are a research and development company. We have no pretensions to be a Glaxo. We would expect to get into licensing arrangements with major pharmaceutical companies in each of these countries - which is the standard model.' - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens