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Legalise Cannabis Alliance
Leader	Alun Buffry
Founded	1992/1999
Headquarters
Political Ideology	Legalisation of cannabis
Political Position	{{{position}}}
International Affiliation	none
European Affiliation	none
European Parliament Group	none
Colours	none
Website	www.lca-uk.org
See also	Politics of the UK Political parties Elections

The Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) was a political party registered in the United Kingdom in 1999 with the cannabis leaf image as its emblem. In common with cannabis (or marijuana) parties^[1] in other countries, the party's aims are not exclusively about the use of cannabis as a drug, but this is an important feature of them. The party highlights also the way prohibition of cannabis cultivation tends to prevent or severely restrict cultivation for a variety of purely non-drug purposes, as well as questioning the value of distinctions between recreational and therapeutic use of cannabis-based drugs.

The Party voted to de-register at a Conference held in Norwich on November 11, 2006, and to continue to campaign as pressure group.

In Cannabis: legalise and utilise (2000) the LCA declared its beliefs as follows:

• The use of cannabis ought to be a matter of choice and not of law
• The prohibition of cannabis is against the public interest
• The prohibition of cannabis contravenes Human Rights
• The prohibition of cannabis inhibits the use of a beneficial resource
• The legalisation of cannabis is a very important step that should be taken to benefit the people and the environment

Contents 1 Cannabis: legalise and utilise 2 History 3 2005 general election performance 4 Footnotes 5 See also 6 External links

Cannabis: legalise and utilise (ISBN 0-9535693-1-4) was published by the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (PO Box 198, Norwich, Norfolk, UK - NR3 3WB), in 2000 and it served in the 2001 UK general election as the party's election manifesto. This manifesto devoted over 60 pages to the 'single issue' of cannabis legalisation, and it was packed with cannabis-related detail and references.

The manifesto included sections discussing or noting:

• The principles, aims and proposals of the LCA
• The environmental (ecological) potential of hemp (Cannabis)
• Legislation characterising cannabis as generally a drug of abuse
• The reality of any distinction between medicinal and recreational use
• The history of cannabis-related legislation in the UK
• The human rights issues of drug testing
• Cannabis use and driving performance
• A summary of the nutritional characteristics of hemp seed (sourced from Hempseed Organics)
• Cannabis-related laws in seventeen different countries apart from the UK
• Beliefs and propaganda about cannabis' adverse drug effects
• The relevance (or irrelevance) of 'harm reduction' in relation to cannabis use

In retrospect (in 2005) Cannabis: legalise and utilise can be seen as giving undue weight to Jack Herer's claims in The Emperor Wears No Clothes about the potential of cannabis as a source of renewable fuel.

In 1992 the Campaign to Legalise Cannabis International was formed in Norwich to fight politically for the legalisation of cannabis worldwide and, under the name Legalise Cannabis Alliance, this organisation was registered as a political party in the United Kingdom in March 1999. Registration occurred after Howard Marks had stood as a legalise cannabis candidate in four different constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom in the 1997 general election: Norwich North, Norwich South, Southampton Test and Neath. In the same general election Buster Nolan described himself as the New Millennium, New Way, Legalise Cannabis candidate in Braintree.

The first official LCA candidate in a House of Commons election was Colin Paisley in the November 1999 byelection in Kensington and Chelsea. He took 141 (0.7%) of the votes. The second was Derrick Large in the May 2000 Romsey byelection. He took 417 (1.1%) of the votes.

In the June 2001 general election the LCA had candidates in 13 constituencies. Their best result was in Workington, where John Peacock took 1040 (2.5%) of the votes cast.

In January 2004 cannabis prohibition in the UK was relaxed. Cannabis had been a class B substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: it became a class C substance. Many people saw this change as virtual 'decriminalisation': it was a long way short of full legalisation.

In the May 2005 general election the LCA contested 21 constituencies. This was 8 more than in the 2001 general election, but included only 6 that had been contested in that previous election. In all these 6 constituencies the LCA suffered a fall in its share of the vote, and the average share across 21 constituencies was well down from that across the previous 13. Their best results were in Orkney and Shetland, Worthing East and Shoreham and Leigh. In Orkney and Shetland, Paul Cruickshank took 1.8% of the votes. Thomas Hampson in Leigh and Chris Baldwin in Worthing East and Shoreham both took 1.5% of the votes.

The party has also contested various local government elections.

Alun Buffry is the key figure in the party's organisation to date. According to the Electoral Commission's register of political parties, he is the leader and nominating officer, whilst Hugh Stuart Robertson is treasury.

CHANGES in 2006

At a party conference held in Norwich on November 11, 2006, the motion to de-register and to continue campaigning as a pressure group, was passed.

This followed the announcement that Nominating Officer Alun Buffry was to resign the post.

A new Nominating Officer. Esteban Otton, was elected - the post to be renamed Campaign Coordinator.

Constituencies:	Candidates:	Votes:	Share (%):	Change:
Canterbury	Rocky van de Benderskum	326	0.7	N/A
Carlisle[2]	Lezley Gibson	343	1.0	-0.6
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	Sid James Whitworth	272	0.7	N/A
Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South	Alex Daszak	236	0.6	N/A
Conwy	Tim Evans	193	0.6	N/A
Dorset South	Vic Hamilton	282	0.6	N/A
Great Yarmouth	Michael Skipper	389	0.9	N/A
Hull East	Carl Wagner	182	0.6	N/A
Hull North[2]	Carl Wagner	179	0.6	-1.1
Leigh	Thomas Hampson	415	1.5	N/A
Neath	Pat Tabram	334	0.9	N/A
Norwich South[2]	Don Barnard	219	0.5	-1.0
Orkney and Shetland	Paul Cruickshank	311	1.8	N/A
Penrith and the Border[2]	Mark Gibson	549	1.2	-0.8
Surrey East	Winston Matthews	410	0.8	N/A
Swansea West	Steve Pank	218	0.7	N/A
Vale of Clwyd	Jeff Ditchfield	286	0.9	N/A
Workington[2]	John Peacock	381	1.0	-1.5
East Worthing and Shoreham[2]	Chris Baldwin	677	1.5	-0.6
Worthing West	Chris Baldwin	550	1.2	N/A
Ynys Mon	Tim Evans	232	0.7	N/A

Please see LCA in UK Parliament elections for details of performance in other elections.

1. ^ The use of marijuana as an English name for cannabis can be traced to the US Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 and to US newspaper usage of the 1920s and 30s. Most readers of the time would not have recognised marijuana as a name for something they themselves might be using as a prescribed medicine. The Marijuana Tax Act had the effect of prohibiting virtually all uses of cannabis, including both medical or therapeutic use and non-drug industrial uses. Cultivation and use of cannabis (known also as hemp) was already controlled. In 1937 however, prohibition of medical use seems to have been quite unexpected by the American Medical Association and to have been against their advice. In the UK this particular prohibition was not introduced until 1971 when the Misuse of Drugs Act was passed. The marijuana name is Latin American in origin and the US legislation of 1937 represented obviously racist opinion about drug use.
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Contested also in the general election of June 2001

• British Legalise Cannabis Campaigns
• Cannabis
• Cannabis (drug)
• Cannabis reclassification in the United Kingdom
• Contaminated skunk cannabis (also known as grit weed)
• Industrial hemp
• Legalise cannabis parties
• Legal issues of cannabis
• The Spliff Committee
• Medical cannabis

• Legalise Cannabis Alliance homepage
• Cannabis Campaigners' Guide
• Legalise Cannabis petition on the Prime Ministers website