p their colonization of the new world.
Prior to prohibition, British politicians were known for growing or using cannabis.
|Urquhart, DavidDavid Urquhart||1805–1877||Member of Parliament||Independent|||
In order that Britain could ratify international treaties which it signed up to, it added tincture of cannabis to the list of drugs which already required an importation or exportation licence, granted by the Home Secretary. This took the form of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920.
Secondary legislation was introduced to ensure better standardization and quality of cannabis tincture. This was achieved by tight legislative control over sourcing the raw materials, processing and distribution. An effect of this control was to restrict the use of tincture to purposes that were strictly medical or scientific. Other forms of cannabis were not affected.
One of the regulations to maintain quality is briefly alluded to by Maud Grieve in her book A Modern Herbal, where she mentions in the section about Indian Hemp that "two-year-old ganja is almost inert, and the law requires it to be burnt in the presence of excise officers."
Although the United States were not members of the League of Nations they put pressure on the 1925 Geneva Opium Conventions to include a complete ban on cannabis. Due to its importance as a medicine and its other industrial uses, this proposal was reduced to prohibiting the unlicensed possession of cannabis. Britain ratified this agreement by amending the Dangerous Drugs Act 1920 with the Dangerous Drugs Act 1925 which added some other of cannabis hitherto ignored. Namely, cannabis resin, cannabis oil (hash oil), cannabis leaf, flower-heads and the raw plant itself. However, whole seeds, seed oil (hemp oil) and fibre are not included. They can still be used for baiting fish, feeding birds, cooking, making strong ropes and high quality paper. In order that the government could avoid paying out compensation, enforcement of the act was delayed until 1928, thus giving people time to legitimately dispose of their stock which contravenes the new Bill.
Following the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (1961) the cultivation of cannabis ceased in the UK.
Politicians that have admitted to recreational use following prohibition include, Members of Parliament, Home Secretaries and other Ministers, Peers, and Mayors.
David Cameron, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former leader of the Conservative Party, does not appear on the above list because he has not clearly communicated whether he has used cannabis but he has clearly stated that he is “not issuing denials” about the stories on the front pages of several national newspapers claiming that he had. He did however, while Leader of the Opposition, say, that he supports the legalisation of medical cannabis.
- Cannabis classification in the United Kingdom
- Cannabis in the United Kingdom
- List of United States politicians who have acknowledged cannabis use
- Ryder, M. L. (1993). "Probable hemp fibre in Bronze Age Scotland". Archeological Textiles Newsletter (17): 10–13.
- Wild, John Peter (April 2003). Textiles in Archaeology. United Kingdom: Shire Publications. p. 22. ISBN 978-0-85263-931-3.
- Fleming, M. P.; Clarke, R. C. (1998). "Physical evidence for the antiquity of Cannabis sativa L. (Cannabaceae)" (PDF). Journal of the International Hemp Association (5): 80–92.
- Whittington, Graeme; Edwards, Kevin J. (December 1990). "The cultivation and utilisation of hemp in Scotland". Scottish Geographical Journal. 106 (3): 167–173. doi:10.1080/00369229018736795.
- Deitch, Robert (2003) Hemp: American history revisited: the plant with a divided history. page 12. Algora Publishing. Accessed 2010-01-16
- A pharmacy of her own: Victorian women and the figure of the opiate by Aikens, Kristina, Ph.D., TUFTS UNIVERSITY, 2008, 276 pages; 3304089
- "Cannabis Use and Abuse By Man: An Historical Perspective" (PDF). Overseas Publishers Association N.V. 1998. p. 20. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- Grieve, Maud (1931). A modern herbal. Johnathan Cape Ltd. p. 396.
- Dorn, Nicholas