The Observer Legalising cannabis ‘could earn Treasury £3.5bn’ Report suggests change to law would generate revenue and cut costs across justice system Jamie Doward Sat 2 Jun 2018 21.30 BST Last modified on Sun 3 Jun 2018 12.37 BST Shares 3805 Comments 1,116 The Lib Dems and Greens favour a regulated cannabis market, and 47% people in the UK support selling the drug in licensed shops. Photograph: Cris Faga/Rex Introducing a legal cannabis market to the UK could earn the Treasury between £1bn and £3.5bn a year in tax revenues, a new report suggests. Health Poverty Action, an international development organisation, claims that regulating and legalising cannabis in the UK is an “idea whose time has come” and that the windfall could be used to plug the gap in the NHS budget. “Prohibition has failed,” said the group’s advocacy officer, Natasha Horsfield. “From our perspective, it’s about regulating the market to improve publi
