Anthony Boff is running a strong race to be the next Mayor of London. He might have boosted his campaign with his announcement that he would be pro legalization if elected.
Per NME
A leading Tory MP who has entered the race to be London’s next mayor has called for cannabis to be legalised.
Andrew Boff has claimed that making the drug legal would reduce knife crime and mental illness amongst young people who take powerful strains of the drug.
Speaking to the London Evening Standard, Boff said he would use his position as mayor to “bring regulation to an illicit drugs trade that is behind half of the murders in London.”
A member of the London Assembly, Boff has 40 years of experience in government. He said that whilst he would have no powers to change the drug laws himself, he would use the position as a platform to persuade Parliament.
“We are handing the distribution of cannabis to criminals and…putting young people at risk, both from knife crime as gangs fight for market share and from being exposed to black market drugs that are particularly dangerous to health.”
The call comes after NME’s symposium in Westminster last week (June 27), calling for the legalisation of the drug for medicinal use.
Damian Marley and Professor Green were joined on a panel together with Norman Lamb MP, American cannabis advocate Doctor Frank D’Ambrosio and campaigner Kate Rothwell, whose cousin Oliver has a severe form of epilepsy alleviated by cannabis oil.
Rothwell has launched a petition on Change.org calling for the legalisation of the medicine; it has so far received over 300,000 signatures.
Recently, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has intervened in the cases of Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell to give their mother’s permission to legally use cannabis-based medicines to help with their treatment.
Although only a temporary order, Javid also announced a review would be set up to explore the medical use of cannabis further.