Cannabis hopes go to pot

The likelihood of the drug cannabis ever being legally sold in Britain's pubs seemed remote earlier this week following a debate at the Pub & Bar show.

The event, hosted by the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers, centred on whether the trade would embrace the idea of cannabis sales should ministers move to legalise the drug.

But the debate took on a moral tone as speaker Richard Slater, from Risk Assessment Solutions, argued that cannabis should not be legalised at all because it would lead to widespread drug abuse and increased violence.

"The drinks industry has traditionally set an example," he said. "The alcohol and cannabis mix would need regulation and who pays for that? The licensee of course - so there goes your additional profit!"

It was also suggested that mixing alcohol and cannabis in a pub environment would lead to more customers becoming ill and incapable.

But Phil Dixon (pictured)​, who left his role as head of membership at the British Institute of Innkeeping last year, claimed that legalising cannabis would free up the police to concentrate on hard drugs and violence.

"If we can't keep drugs out of our prisons how are we going to keep them out of pubs and clubs?" he added.

"I would see a coffee shop culture developing here as it has in Amsterdam. There is no more cannabis use in the Netherlands, where it is decriminalised, than in the UK or the USA."

But Andy Walker, an officer with Humberside Police, said he was against the legalisation of cannabis. "It is very much a moral issue," he added.

A show of hands at the end of the debate saw most members vote against the legalisation of cannabis.