canada has ta ken recreational use —— lord hague. canada has taken that step.case, commercially, there are benefits. quite aside from the ethical and moral questions, but from the medicinal sector, that perspective, there is clearly a market and there is helped that quite a number of patients could get by using cannabis based drugs. there are commercial as well as ethical questions. we were asking you at home what you think and your thoughts on whether the uk should take this step. quite a lot of reaction. someone says, places like amsterdam have the highest rate of heroin usage per capita, a gateway drug. we had another one who says, time for a change but purely for pain relief, not a free for all. richard says, legalise for medicinal reasons, maybe in cannabis cafes, but not on the streets. there needs to be strict punishments, as many do not want to smell it in the air. a few was saying in hammersmith, it is known as little amsterdam because you can just smell it in the streets. i go to colorado frequently on holiday because i have family there and it is leg

is lord hague right? yes.it says it is and we have a market in the uk which doesn't care whether it sells to children or adults. and they sell the strongest possible stuff that they can manage, which is why 95% of cannabis sold in this country is street cannabis, skunk. and the evidence is that if people under 18, developing minds up to the age of 23, say, use that, there is a risk, a more significant risk of psychosis from that product. so legalising it would reduce that risk? yes, it would reduce that risk? yes, it would mean that whenever it is retailed, in the same way as alcohol, there is a reason why people under 18 find it easier to get cannabis and alcohol, it is because there's no criminally supplied alcohol, and large, from a production point of view —— by and large. if you sell it to an under 18 you could lose your entire business. do you want your 18—year—old to be trying cannabis? i would want them to be making sensible informed choices and understanding what they are buying and what the risks are

make of his comments -- lord hague.f cannabis are, in lord hague‘s words, indefensible, beyond ridiculous and utterly out of date. 0n beyond ridiculous and utterly out of date. on that front he shares the view many in parliament hold, who look at this case with incredulity and think much more needs to be done to make that law makes sense for patients. what is so interesting is that lord hague goes much further and says the whole issue of the recreational use of cannabis needs to be looked as well. he says the idea that can somehow take cannabis off the streets is deluded, he says asking police to try and do that is like asking the british army to go and refight and reclaim the british empire. it is simply impossible, it is not going to happen. he looks at countries like canada and the us where there is dramatic liberalisation of recreational cannabis use going on now, and he says perhaps the conservatives should be pushing that sort of policy agenda here as well. theresa may, in her time at the home office and as prime

cannabis or to review its classification as a class b drug — despite the former conservative leader lord haguealling for a review of the current law. lord hague says the case of billy caldwell, the boy with epilepsy whose medicinal cannabis oil was confiscated, shows the government's approach is out of date, however the prime minister says that there is a "very good reason" for the current rules on cannabis and other drugs. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is in westminsterfor us. some surprising voices coming out in favour of legalising cannabis from westminster this morning.” favour of legalising cannabis from westminster this morning. i don't think any unexpectedly william hague to suggest the cannabis should be legalised. he says the war on cannabis has been lost and asking the police to clamp down on it is asking the military to reconquer the empire. it might happen, no point trying. but the government this morning have rejected the idea of any loosening of the law in terms of recreational use of cannabis. that is not going to happen. that is a separate issue, though, it has

the telegraph says the war against cannabis has been "comprehensively and irreversibly lost", lord haguea may to legalise the drug. 0n the front of the ft is a picture of rudy stadler, the chief executive of luxury—car maker audi. he was arrested by german authorities for his alleged involvement in the volkswagen diesel emissions scandal. and finally in the times england are off to great start in russia having won their opening game of the world cup. they beat tunisia 2—1 after captain harry kane came to the rescue, scoring both goals. so let's begin. with me is stephanie hare who's a political analyst and commentator. stepney, let's get started. now, harry kane is on every front page but so is donald trump. pointing the finger at angela merkel in particular. donald trump, his spokeswoman kellyanne conway, introduced the world to alternative that is. he is talking about crime in germany being way up but the fact is it is at 30— year record low but he this story and it goes out on certain media channels were at place to his base. this is about a reaction to the german chancellor allowing

norman, strong words from lord hague, adding to the pressure on theresa may. calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis for recreational reasons, do not expect theresa may to give any ground on that. but she is under huge pressure now to allow cannabis medicines to be used. this follows the high—profile interventions of the high—profile interventions of the likes of the family of billy caldwell and the family of alfie dingley and there has been a shift of opinion at westminster. the opposition parties are signed up to legalising cannabis medicine and a growing number of conservative mps, including some surprising characters on the right, they are also supportive of the change, in part because they have constituents who have children who don't want to be able to use cannabis oil. the barrier has always been theresa may. as home secretary, she resolutely rebuffed any moves to reform drug laws, including on cannabis medicines, in part, ithink laws, including on cannabis medicines, in part, i think because she thought it might lead to a wider reform of the laws

the daily telegraph leads with comments from former conservative leader lord hague, who says the waris urging the prime minister to legalise the drug. president trump's comments on immigration leads the guardian, as mr trump said the us will not become a migrant camp like europe. the tax rise announced by the prime minister to pay for the nhs funding boost leads the i. the ft says the chancellor has been given the green light to put taxes up to pay for the £20 billion boost. but the express say we will have to wait until the autumn budget to find out who will be paying more. and the times leads with a warning from the chancellor, philip hammond, that there will be no money for other policies outside the health service funding boost. the mirror features the television interview with meghan markle's father, who said that prince harry could only marry his daughter if he vowed never to assault her. and england's late show in russia, despite a swarm of insects in the stadium, leads the sun. so a variety of stories on tomorrow's front pages. let's begin with what was the big story really d

shouldn't the home secretary actually follow the advice of the former conservative leader lord haguehe case for a regulated legalised market and that that is the best way to protect people from harm who at the moment buy from criminals who have no interest in their welfare at all. mr speaker, this is about making sure that we have the best possible medical treatment available for everyone in the uk but especially our children. that is what this is about. it is about medical treatment. it is not about the recreational use of drugs which can cause severe damage to people. at the end of the session a conservative had a different question. where is everybody, mr speaker? i hope in the light of the extraordinary accusations of the honourable member for north norfolk they're not behind the bike sheds having a spliff! something the speaker said was a most unworthy thought! a labour attempt to secure a vote of no confidence in the transport secretary chris grayling following the recent chaos on the rail network has been defeated in the commons. train passengers in both the north and the sout

among those calling for change is lord hague, william hague, who's a former leader of the conservativeout of date". and he doesn't just want cannabis legalised for medicinal use, he wants to take inspiration from canada which is in the process of introducing a a legal, regulated market for recreational use. let's hear the home secretary's response to that. before i go into any detail in the review, let me be absolutely clear that this step is in no way a first step to the legalization of cannabis for recreational use. this government has absolutely no plans to legalize cannabis and the penalties for unauthorised supply and possession will remain unchanged. we will not see a dangerous president that will weaken oui’ dangerous president that will weaken our ability to keep dangerous drugs off our streets. that is it for the first 30 minutes of outside source. i will be back with you in a couple minute's time. hello, plenty of interesting weather stories across the globe and here is just a few of them over the next three minutes. we will start off in north america where this plume of clou

with that debate in mind the former conservative leader lord hague has gone further, much further, writingagainst cannabis had been "comprehensively and irreversibly lost". he's called on the government to legalise the recreational use of the drug. in canada they are on the brink of doing just that. and of course here in the us in several states they have already done it. for more on this we can speak to kevin sabet, a former white house adviser on drugs who helped to write president 0bama's drugs control strategy. he's in new york. it was during your time in the white house that we started to see american states move towards legalising cannabis. you do not think it is necessarily a good idea for the uk to follow suit? not at all, and that is why president 0bama never enforced this and does not endorse legalising marijuana. this really is all about money, it is like the new tobacco industry, it is the commercialisation of cannabis. it is not really about sick people or even low—level use, we should separate the issues from these calls like william hague is calling for, the legalisation of

former leader of the conservative party lord hague said today that the uk drug policy is inappropriate utterly out of date. he thinks the government should think about legalising it, but the government said that's not on the table. let me be absolutely clear that this step is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use. this government has absolutely no plans to legalise cannabis and the penalties for unauthorised supply and possessions will remain unchanged. legalising medical marijuana in the uk is farfrom a done deal. some experts say using it isn't always straightforward. and needs more trials. but for the families that have been fighting for this change, this is a big step forward. we'rejoined by the labour mp andy mcdonald — who lost his son who suffered an epileptic seizure. that was 12 years ago. our full sympathy with you for that and i just wondered today when you see this sequence of events and now this change of heart by the government, what are your thoughts?” change of heart by the government, what are your thoughts? i do welcome the change

of course, the argument that some people have been putting forward including lord hague is that thishe british army to reclaim the british empire. it is just british army to reclaim the british empire. it isjust a pointless british army to reclaim the british empire. it is just a pointless task asking the police to try and enforce this law. i am not sure i would make that comparison, but the danger is that comparison, but the danger is that if you decriminalise, you may be sending a signal that skunk, which is the majority of cannabis now available on the market, is the same as tobacco. there is some evidence that that is how young people view it. and since there is a really strong association between that and psychosis, the danger is that and psychosis, the danger is that you are throwing out the baby with the bath water. it isn't the right time to take what would be a a far too risky step. the other argument against that is that by making it a criminal, you play into the hands of the drug dealers. if it we re the hands of the drug dealers. if it were decriminalised, the drug dealer