How many of us would buy cannabis if it was sold in high street shops?

• By David James , James McCarthy , Mark Smith

We've looked at how legalisation works around the world - and just how common drugs are in Wales

A participant smokes a marijuana joint while marching in Berlin's annual Hemp Parade (Hanfparade)

The Lib Dems have adopted a plan to legalise cannabis shops as their party policy.
Their party wants to see:

• Licensed shops sell cannabis to over 18s
• The strength of cannabis regulated
• Smokers allowed to grow plants at home
• Plain packaging with health information

But how many people in Wales use cannabis or other drugs?

How many of us smoke cannabis?

6.1% of adults (under 59) in Wales say they smoked cannabis at least once last year.

That’s one in 16 of us - slightly below the UK average of one in 15.

The biggest smokers in the UK are in the South West of England where 8.3% say they’ve smoke pot.

Cannabis use has fallen in Wales

Smoking cannabis hit its peak in Wales after the turn of the Millennium.

As Afroman was singing his No1 Chart hit ‘Because I got high’, Wales was doing just the same.

Pot peaked in 2003 when one in ten of people in Wales said they had smoked in the last year.

But it has fallen sharply since then.

Other drugs have shown a different picture

Back 1996, hardly anyone in Wales said they had taken cocaine in the last year (0.2%).

Today it is the most commonly taken Class A drug with 2.2% admitting using it in 2014/15.

At the same time, the number of people using amphetamines and speed has fallen.

Ecstasy use, after peaking in the last decade, has also fallen.

Who takes drugs?

Drug use is most common among young adults.

A fifth of people aged 20-24 say they took an illegal substance in the last year.

A similar proportion of 16-19 year olds said the same (19%).

But drug use drops off rapidly as people get older, falling to 13% among 25 to 29 year olds, 8% among 30-34 year olds, down to just 2% among 55 to 59 year olds.

Men are more likely to take drugs than women, with 11.9% saying they partook in the last year compared to 5.4% of women.

How often do cannabis users smoke it?

• 9% of cannabis users they smoke it every day;
• 30% at least once a week;
• just under half say more than once a month.

How do we know?

Twin Town (1997) starring Rhys Ifans and Dougray Scott was set and filmed in Swansea

The figures come from the British Crime Survey, which involves officials simply asking a representative sample of people about their experiences.

So it’s clearly hard to tell how accurate they are, but they’re the best guide to the nation’s drugs habits that we have.

The same survey is used to tell us whether crime is rising or falling, because respondents are asked whether they have been victims of crime.

Could it work?

Bags of marijuana at the San Francisco Patients Cooperative, a medical cannabis cooperative

The Washington Post reported last week that legalisation in some states of the US may be doing what the authorities want.

“Legal marijuana may be doing at least one thing that a decades-long drug war couldn’t: taking a bite out of Mexican drug cartels’ profits,” it reported.

“The latest data from the U.S. Border Patrol shows that last year, marijuana seizures along the southwest border tumbled to their lowest level in at least a decade.

“Agents snagged roughly 1.5 million pounds of marijuana at the border, down from a peak of nearly 4 million pounds in 2009.”

However there are concerns that Mexicans are just growing more poppies and sending more cheap heroin and methamphetamine across the border instead.

U.S. law enforcement agents seized 2,181 kilograms of heroin last year coming from Mexico, nearly three times the amount confiscated in 2009.

Where else is cannabis legal?

In Colorado, which legalised marijuana in early 2014, 10,000 now work in the marijuana industry: growing and harvesting crops, working in dispensaries, and making and selling equipment.

Crime has fallen: in the first three months after legalisation in Denver, the city experienced a 14.6 per cent drop in crime and specifically violent crime is down 2.4 per cent. Assaults were down by 3.7 per cent.

In Holland, residents need to apply for a card to enter cannabis cafes but this does not apply in Amsterdam where anyone over the age of 18 can buy cannabis.

Uruguay legalised cannabis in 2014 - and the production and sale of marijuana is regulated and the prices set by the President's office. However tourists can't legally buy it.

In the Portuguese capital Lisbon, cannabis is decriminalised - as are all drugs. It means drugs are not legal and are not sold in shops. But anyone caught with 25 grams of marijuana of less will not have to go to court.

Drugs charity boss Martin Blakebrough is a supporter of the Lib Dem proposal

Martin Blakebrough runs drugs charity Kaleidoscope in Newport.
“My view has always been consistent,” he said.

“The idea that you can criminalise cannabis and for that to be effective does not work.

“When they moved cannabis from a class B drug to a class C drug, usage actually went down.

“In Amsterdam they have got cannabis cafes but you do not see it in the street, it is more discreet and controlled.

“I would prefer that for my children – not that I want them to drink heavily or take drugs – but if they were going to, that would be a much safer environment than buying it from someone who might be looking to sell other drugs.

“There is no doubt the THC content in cannabis has gone up.


“It is because criminals have decided how they are going to regulate cannabis.

“It is a system that is not fit for purpose.”