http://www.lca-uk.org/node/26

The Angel Declaration
The Legalise Cannabis Alliance

1. We declare and affirm our view that the UK prohibition of controlled substances,
introduced in the 1920s and now embodied in the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, has
proved ineffective in the achievement of its objects, counter-productive in its side-
effects, wasteful of public resources, destructive in its cultivation of criminality and
commercial abuse, and inhumane in its operation. The Act no longer constitutes an
appropriate form of social regulation, consistent with the UK's Human Rights
commitments.

2. We affirm our view that the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and consequential legislation
should be repealed and replaced by a system of licensed retail outlets, supplied by a
chain of licensed producers, importers and distributors, incorporating all necessary
quality-control provisions. Reform legislation should also prescribe new arrangements
for educational, therapeutic and harm-reduction measures to address problematical
drug use wherever it occurs. If such action were to require the renegotiation of UK
treaty obligations, we would advocate such renegotiation. Suitable licensing
arrangements should be made by local authorities, under new legislation, in respect
of retail premises, in the light of local demand, local circumstances, and the
characteristics of the substances to be sold. UK public authorities have, historically,
extensive experience of these forms of public regulation, and we advocate their
extension to all the substances currently controlled by the 1971 Act.

3. We affirm our view that the system should operate within the framework of a new
National Drugs Agency. With the exception of plant material cultivated domestically*
in the UK and supplied for personal or social consumption, a premises licence should
be required for the retail sale of each primary class of substance, within the
framework of guidelines issued by that Agency. In particular, the Agency would issue
guidelines upon health risks, medical referrals, and the advisory or other
precautionary provisions to be required by way of licence condition. The accessibility
of each substance should be kept under review by the Agency (including access by
prescription where appropriate) with the aim of minimising detrimental health effects.
In the case of certain substances, licence conditions might require the supervision of
sales by a suitably qualified person. And the Agency would in particular address the
interaction between such retail sales and the prevailing medical prescription regimes
for any comparable substances.

4. We envisage a National Drugs Agency as a consultative and advisory Agency,
facilitating the participation of all relevant interests, including drug users and those
concerned with medical and related services, law and fiscal enforcement, producers,
distributors and retailers. Apart from the provisions of primary legislation, any new
executive initiatives would be by way only of subordinate legislation. We envisage that
the functions of the Agency would be to advise the Government and local authorities
on the operation of the legislation, to formulate national policy for premises licensing
and retail sales, to establish product purity standards and to monitor enforcement, to
license and monitor the importation of drugs and all forms of UK production, and to
liaise internationally for all purposes.

5. We affirm our view that further measures will in due course be required to achieve
an integrated regulatory system, but that the immediate legislative reform should
focus on substances falling within the scope of the 1971 Act, and should not extend
to alcohol, tobacco, or the current arrangements for the control of medicines.
Further, while it would be essential to ensure the competitive retail pricing of relevant
substances in order to minimise the incidence of illegal markets and criminal
networks, it would be for Government to consider in due course the taxation
treatment of this form of regulated supply.

6. We affirm our view that the regulation of drug supply is an entirely legitimate
collective purpose, enforceable with all appropriate civil and criminal sanctions. Under
our proposed system, all supplies would be either excepted (domestic UK plant
production) or licensed. Criminal sanctions should be put in place to prevent all other
retail sales, as well as any unlicensed production, import or distribution. Retail
licences would also prevent, upon pain of criminal sanction as well as licence
withdrawal, the sale of any relevant substance to a minor, or to any person in
contemplation of any supply to a minor, or of onward commercial sale of any kind.
Licensees would be under a duty to refuse to sell, upon pain of criminal sanction, if
either circumstance were suspected. Licensees would be free to sell licensed products
in such quantities as were considered appropriate for personal or social group
consumption, and in compliance with NDA guidelines.

7. We affirm our view that the end of drug-prohibition should be accompanied by
public investment to minimise any harm done, whether individually or socially, by the
use of drugs. This alternative approach would reduce drug-acquisition crime,
facilitate the education both of the young and of adult users, reduce the incidence of
problematic drug use, facilitate the deployment of therapeutic support, disempower
the criminal drug-dealing networks, release public enforcement resources for other
deployment, constitute a system compatible with the European Convention of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and generate a new and acceptable source of
public income.

* "domestically" includes cultivation in gardens, allotments, garages, sheds and
attics.
Produced and published by and on behalf of:
The Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA), PO Box 2883, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 9EE.