The Legalisation of Cannabis in the UK Is Going to Be Debated in Parliament

Read: How Legalising Weed Would Save Britain Billions

Next month, British MPs will debate the legalisation of the production, sale and use of cannabis after a public petition reached over 200,000 signatures. The debate has been proposed by Labour MP Paul Flynn, a long-time campaigner for cannabis reform, and will be held on the 12th of October.

The movement to legalise cannabis in the UK is well established, but this is the first time since 2004 that MPs have specifically debated legalising the drug.

James Owen, a Welsh university student, started the petition back in July, and spoke to us then about his ambitions. The economics student later told The Guardian that he hoped to be in London to watch the debate, but that he was not hopeful that it would change the government's position.

Jonathan Liebling of the United Patients Alliance, a support and campaigning community of over 7,500 medical cannabis patients, said: "We urge as many of our MPs to participate in an informed, pragmatic, evidence-based, compassionate debate resulting, at the very least, in allowing sick people a legitimate, effective medicine that vastly improves their quality of life without fear of criminalisation."