A Tory former minister has suggested legalising cannabis could help the party to woo young voters as he called for all drugs to be regulated by the Government.Ex-prisons minister Crispin Blunt said prohibiting drugs was “about as intelligent as the prohibition of alcohol in the United States” and urged the Government to “take back control” of drug regulation by appointing a Royal Commission to look at decriminalisation.He said successive governments had “ceded total control of a significant public health issue to organised crime” and said he would apply the policy to all drugs.

Senior Tories have identified a need to appeal to younger voters with Theresa May promising to freeze tuition fees and moves to bring back the party’s youth wing.

Speaking at a conference fringe event on street cannabis hosted by the Adam Smith Institute, Mr Blunt said: “I think our leadership is now seized of the fact that we have a problem with the youth vote and it might be an idea to get into an intelligent place, both in policy making and in terms of the presentation of our values around freedom and responsibility.

“We can finesse the sum and the conduct of the debate by getting this to a Royal Commission, that’s how we should advance.

“We depoliticise this.”

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Source: Former Tory minister suggests legalising cannabis could win over millennial voters | The Independent