Is big business coming for cannabis?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 July 2019

⏱️ 21 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Once upon a time the concept of legalising recreational cannabis was something stoners at house parties dreamt about, but in the past few years the conversation around cannabis has changed. BBC Newsbeat journalist Jim Connolly travelled with Labour's David Lammy, Conservative MP Jonathan Djanogly and Liberal Democrat Sir Norman Lamb on a fact-finding trip to Canada. In 2018 Canada became the first G7 country to allow recreational use of the drug. The MPs are now convinced the UK will fully legalise cannabis use within five to ten years. Currently cannabis is designated as a Class B drug in the UK and anyone caught with it could face up to five years in prison. Jim spoke to Matthew about what, and who, is driving the push for legalisation in the UK. You can watch Jim’s Newsbeat documentary here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p07hlnh7/newsbeat-documentaries-legalising-weed-canadas-story. Producers: Lucy Hancock, Duncan Barber and Alva White. Mixed by Nicolas Raufast. Editor: Philly Beaumont.

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:04.6	Hello, I'm Matthew Price.
0:08.2	This is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4.
0:11.0	Every day we ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today is big story.
0:17.0	Today is big business coming for cannabis.
0:27.0	Maybe the stoners and the hippies and I guess the Lib Dems have just been using the wrong tactics.
0:41.4	So they've been talking about legalizing cannabis for years and they haven't got anywhere.
0:46.4	But now, hidden away behind the scenes, tucked out of view, barely covered by the news, People who want cannabis legalized think it might
0:55.4	actually happen. You can now openly buy and smoke cannabis in Canada. That
1:00.6	changed recently. You can do it in a lot of the US states as well
1:04.4	both those countries have changed their drugs policy a lot of that is because big
1:10.2	business wanted to pile money into the industry and now investors are targeting Britain.
1:16.0	If the BBC had a cannabis editor, then Jim Connolly would get the job hands down.
1:21.1	He's Newsbeat's political reporter and he's done story after story for year after year on cannabis itself.
1:30.0	And now for the first time he thinks cannabis is definitely on a slow path towards
1:37.1	legalization.
1:39.0	And this is why.
1:40.6	Interestingly, I've done most of my stories connected to drugs with one other person who's
1:45.1	filmed most of them for TV purposes etc and he always jokes to me that all the people
1:49.6	I line up to speak to are sketchy stoned kind of meeting us down weird urine smelling back alleys etc and
1:56.2	it's all a bit kind of degrading forever and involved.
	...

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