Legalisation doesn’t equal liberty: why it’s time to decriminalise all cannabis offences

Gary Youds was persecuted for having a vision ahead of his time, argues drug reform activist Simpa Carter, we need to de-schedule, de-penalise and decriminalise all cannabis offences.

The consumption of the flowers and limited botanical extractions of the genera Cannabis Sativa L have been lawful in the UK for ‘medicinal use’ since 1 November, 2018. Well, that is if you’re one of the minority of consumers fortunate enough to qualify and be able to afford such lawful access.

However, if you happen to be in the majority of cannabis consumers – that either do not have, do not want, or do not know – they can obtain lawful access or legal protection through a private for-profit prescription, then it’s a postcode lottery whether you may be profiled, persecuted and ultimately prosecuted for unlawful and unlicensed cannabis offences.

It has been nearly four and a half years since the creation of the contentious, conflicting and contradictory schedule two designation under the 2001 Misuse of Drugs Regulations. In that time there has been an estimated 90,000 private for-profit prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis medications (with over 20,000 patients now thought to be prescribed these privately) and a limited number of prescriptions to fewer than five patients for unlicensed cannabis medications on the NHS.

The gaping disparity between these two figures is emblematic of the failures of this current system and the multitude of concerns expressed by some members of the legacy community in the prelude to the 2018 legislative change. Many were worried that just ‘legalising’ (making lawful in a limited capacity) the medicinal usage of cannabis rather than ‘decriminalising’ it would lead to the continued persecution and prosecution of many medicinal consumers and caregivers.

Campaigners, activists, and advocates from around the country rallied together to support the movement to ‘legalise’ access to cannabis for medicinal purposes. Cannabis consumers of all creeds, communities, and classes joined together to articulate and enunciate our unceasing appetite for lawful access to humanity’s oldest plant medicine.

Our demands were clear: all consumers that find cannabis beneficial to their health and well-being should be able to self-identify as medicinal consumers and be allowed to lawfully access, possess, and cultivate their own medicine as they see fit. Unfortunately despite our impassioned insistence, what we got was a ‘Frankensteinian’ monster made up of the most pernicious and predatory aspects of neoliberalism, late-stage capitalism and cannabis prohibition.

READ MORE: Colonialism, class and crime: the racist roots of cannabis prohibition

In the years that have followed this nefarious governmental bait and switch, it seems the fears of the legacy community have sadly proven to be well-founded. Since the 2018 legislation, I have stood in courtrooms too many times watching my comrades, culture, and community be condemned, criminalised, and coerced into complying with a corrupt and exploitative judiciary.

Gary Youds – the backstory 

One of those unfortunate souls is Liverpudlian living legend and ‘The Chillin’ Rooms’ coffeeshop founder Gary Youds. After first approaching his local council in 2002 to convert a former taxi office into a private members’ cannabis smokers club and being denied, he decided in March 2005 to open his doors to the local community anyway.

As you can expect, it didn’t take long for the local constabulary to become aware of the private coffeeshop and The Chillin’ Rooms was subsequently raided twice within the same month not long after it opened. 

This resulted in Gary being prosecuted for two counts of allowing his premises to be used to smoke cannabis, but as this was during a period that cannabis was classified in the UK as a schedule one class C drug (2004 -2009) he was discharged.

Being who he was, Gary immediately went back to work and was subsequently arrested and locked up for 12 months in 2006, then nine months in 2015, and was handed a community order in 2019 for continuing to operate The Chillin’ Rooms and provide for his family, friends, and the local community.

Earlier this month, on 2 February, Gary was once again sentenced to three years in prison after being caught in possession of 40 syringes containing full extract cannabis oil, which Gary was supplying free of charge to a terminal cancer patient. 

This led to another raid on Gary’s home where police discovered six “very large and well-maintained” cannabis plants which the force described as “some of the largest plants the officers had ever seen.”

Over the two decades since first establishing The Chillin’ Rooms, Gary has been persecuted for having a vision and passion for his community years ahead of his time. He has been campaigning and working tirelessly to provide the people of Liverpool with access to quality cannabis regardless of why they may personally need it or choose to consume it.

The work of Gary Youds and other campaigners like him has quite literally laid the foundations for the lawful but limited for-profit private prescription system we have today. So, why is Gary languishing in prison instead of being celebrated and rewarded for his tireless efforts?

Profit vs prison

If cannabis can be a medicine, then why is it only medicine when uneducated and inexperienced doctors say it is? You wouldn’t get a tattoo from a tattooist who didn’t have any tattoos, so how can we trust them when they have vilified and demonised us for so long? There are currently more than 20 private cannabis clinics in the UK selling cannabis for profit, but a man giving it away for free deserved to be locked in a cage. What kind of logic is that? 

The current system, whether through deliberate design or ignorant oversight, pits criminalised legacy consumers against new cannabis-naive patients. It decrees that prescription holders are patients that need legal protection and compassion. While the non-prescribed consumer is vilified, criminalised and condemned.

This elitist, classist and exploitative system demonises and destroys trailblazers like Gary Youds. People whose sacrifices and bravery provided the evidence that cannabis could be a medicine at a time when the entire healthcare system was denying the lived experience of thousands of consumers. 

It really is a powerful juxtaposition when you compare individuals like Gary, who choose to become self-reliant and grow their own, and this current system that valorises and celebrates the growing greed and incompetence of the ‘medicinal cannabis industrial complex.’ 

Long before capitalism cottoned on to the obscene amounts of money that could be made from dividing, exploiting and astroturfing cannabis consumers, Gary was providing access, education and a safe place to consume, socialise and experience a little taste of liberty – if only for a few hours each evening.

At a time when doctors and healthcare workers were still declaring us all ‘junkies’, ‘druggies’, and ‘addicts’, the likes of Gary Youds were on the front line defiantly standing up for our human rights and providing for his community.

One thing Gary truly believes above all else is that cannabis can heal, not just others and ourselves, but also our communities, and our wider society. For two decades he has worked not for profit, shareholder interest, or to control market share but because it was the right thing to do.

Gary’s vision is to allow all cannabis consumers and community members the opportunity to participate in the industry that their sacrifices, fortitude and hard work helped forge. He believes that cannabis consumers should be lawfully allowed to grow their way out of poverty and reinvest their earnings into their local community and economy. A far cry from the limited system we currently have. 

I do not see anyone within the ‘medicinal cannabis industrial complex’ that has anything that even comes close to Gary’s revolutionary vision for the future of cannabis here in the UK.

The vast majority of clinics and dispensaries currently operating here are either partnered with or are a subsidiary of an already well-established international conglomerate. So it is highly likely that the money that is extracted from exploiting medicinal cannabis consumers doesn’t remain or get reinvested here. 

Time to ‘free the flower prisoners’

So, what can we do about this injustice?

It is my sincere hope that all cannabis consumers, regardless of their self-designation or current situation, will hear of Gary’s plight, be moved and be readying for a fight. For far too long we have allowed ourselves to be demonised, divided and denied our basic human right to utilise this bountiful fruit of the earth. 

No longer should we have to convince anyone that cannabis benefits us and no longer should we have to justify our consumption of it to anyone.

In Gary’s immortal words, it is time we ‘free the flower prisoners’, and it’s damn sure time we do not make any new ones. 

The de-facto decriminalisation and de-penalisation of cannabis offences would allow for the introduction and self-regulation of home-grown not-for-profit cannabis social clubs and coffeeshops like Gary’s The Chillin’ Rooms. After all, they are already successfully operating in countries like Holland, Malta and Spain. 

For far too long we have allowed ourselves to be demonised, divided and denied our basic human right to utilise this bountiful fruit of the earth. No longer should we have to convince anyone that cannabis benefits us to be allowed to consume it. No longer should we have to justify our cannabis consumption to anyone.

Rescheduling the entire plant Cannabis Sativa L and decriminalising and de-penalising personal offences relating to the possession, cultivation, gifting, and not-for-profit trade of cannabis would allow the consumers themselves the opportunity to lawfully participate in and self-regulate what is already a thriving but highly-criminalised industry.  

The arbitrary subjugation of cannabis consumers must cease if we are ever to end this hypocritical, draconian and unjust war on all of us. We do not want and should not have to have our culture and lifestyle commandeered, co-opted, commodified and then sold back to us through multinational corporate legalisation. 

Ultimately we deserve our actions with the plant to be decriminalised and for us to be left alone to live our lives in peace.

Simpa Carter

Simpa Carter is an experienced writer, public speaker, and host of The Simpa Life podcast. With his honest and approachable demeanour, Simpa has established himself as an international presence in drug law reform and is known for his articulate articles, detailed blogs, and powerful speaking work.

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