Khan’s cannabis commission kicked into long grass

Life in London is going swimmingly right now. Whether it’s the lyrical cries for ‘Jihad, jihad, jihad!’ or Tube drivers leading chants of ‘Free, free Palestine!’ you can scarcely avoid the sounds of success these days. So it’s good to know that the capital’s mayor has his priorities in order. Back in May of last year, Sadiq Khan jetted off to California on a £34,000 trip to make the case for decriminalising cannabis, even though he, er, has no power to do so.

That same month Khan announced the creation of the new-fangled ‘London Drugs Commission’ to explore the merits of such a move. But sixteen months on, Khan’s creation has been something of a flop. One member of the Shadow Cabinet dismissed the prospects of cannabis decriminalisation, telling Mr S ‘that won’t happen’ if Labour wins the next election. And in an interview with The Spectator at Labour conference, Khan appeared to throw in the towel too: ‘I just think because of the pandemic and other things happening, bandwidth has been an issue, bearing in mind we’ve got to reform the police service,’ he said.