Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), formerly the Legalise Cannabis Alliance, is a United Kingdom lobby group which campaigns to end the
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...
of
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
. The group was founded in 1997 and reformed as CLEAR in 2011. It campaigned in a number of elections until it was statutorily de-registered by the
Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
in November 2013.
History
Legalise Cannabis Alliance
The Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) campaigned for the
legalisation of cannabis for all purposes, including
medicinal use, as
biomass,
hemp-based products, and
recreational drug use. They fielded candidates in elections to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
and
local government
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...
.
The party had origins in a pressure group formed in
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
. It was registered as a political party in March 1999, after
Howard Marks
Dennis Howard Marks (13 August 1945 – 10 April 2016) was a Welsh drug smuggler and author who achieved notoriety as an international cannabis smuggler through high-profile court cases. At his peak he claimed to have been smuggling consignmen ...
had stood as a Legalise Cannabis candidate in four different
constituencies
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...
at the
1997 general election:
Norwich North,
Norwich South
Norwich South is a constituency in Norfolk represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, since 2015 by Clive Lewis, of the Labour Party.
History
The constituency was created by the Representation of the Peopl ...
,
Southampton Test
Southampton Test is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1997 by Alan Whitehead, a member of the Labour Party.
History
The constituency was created for the 1950 general election, when the previous two ...
and
Neath.
The party used a ''
Cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
'' leaf image as its emblem and ''Cannabis : legalise and utilise'' served as its election manifesto.
The first official LCA candidate in a parliamentary election was former mayor of
Carlisle Colin Paisley in the
November 1999 by election in the
Kensington and Chelsea constituency. He took 141 (0.7%) of the votes. The second was Derrick Large in the May 2000
Romsey byelection, who took 417 (1.1%) of the votes.
[
In local elections in 2000, the party stood five candidates in Norwich and one in Peterborough,][ and the party stood frequently in local elections.
In the 2005 general election the LCA stood 18 candidates in 21 constituencies.][ This was eight more than in the 2001 general election, but included only six that had been contested in that previous election. In all these six 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
Leigh may refer to:
Places In England
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan
** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency)
* Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Pronounced :
* Leigh, Dorset
* Leigh, Gloucestershire
* Leigh, Kent
* Leigh, Staf ...
. The LCA also stood in seven Welsh constituencies. As well as calling for the legalisation of cannabis, the manifesto in Wales included campaigning against GM food, for lower fuel tax for haulage and transport firms, and support for recycling and renewable energy.
The party met with then Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national s ...
and Norwich South
Norwich South is a constituency in Norfolk represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, since 2015 by Clive Lewis, of the Labour Party.
History
The constituency was created by the Representation of the Peopl ...
MP Charles Clarke
Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.
Early life
T ...
in March 2006 to put their case for the legalisation of cannabis.
LCA election results
CLEAR
The members of the ''Legalise Cannabis Alliance'' voted to re-register to contest elections in February 2011. Proposals for a new identity and constitution were put to a referendum of the membership and passed in separate two votes. The party re-registered with the Electoral Commission under its new name of CLEAR Cannabis Law Reform.
The party commissioned a report by the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit, published on 14 September 2011, stating that a taxed and regulated cannabis market would save the exchequer £6.7 billion.
Peter Reynolds stood as CLEAR candidate in the 2012 Corby by-election, taking 137 votes (0.38%).
The party was statutorily de-registered by the UK Electoral Commission
In the United Kingdom, the Electoral Commission is the national election commission, created in 2001 as a result of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. It is an independent agency that regulates party and election fina ...
in November 2013.
As of 2014, the party states on their website: "We are not presently registered with the Electoral Commission as we are not currently intending to contest any elections.
See also
* Cannabis classification in the United Kingdom
* Cannabis in the United Kingdom
* Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol
* Cannabis political parties
* Drug policy reform
Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...
* List of political parties in the United Kingdom
The Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties lists the details of political parties registered to fight elections in the United Kingdom, including their registered name. Under current electoral law, including the Registration o ...
References
External links
*
The History of the LCA
''Why The Legalise Cannabis Alliance is now CLEAR'', Peter Reynolds, Know Drugs website
accessed 11 October 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clear Campaign
Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom
Political campaigns in the United Kingdom
Reform in the United Kingdom
1997 establishments in the United Kingdom
Cannabis political parties of the United Kingdom
Drug policy of the United Kingdom
Political parties disestablished in 2013
Single-issue political parties in United Kingdom