We wrote about a study yesterday that linked smoking skunk to the onset of psychosis. At the end, we questioned whether or not weed should be legalised – it's happening across America, so should the UK follow suit? One man who is firmly in favour of relaxing our marijuana laws is Bebo co-founder Paul Birch, who's just launched the single-issue political party CISTA (Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol).

"Decades of criminalising use of cannabis have failed on every front," CISTA writes on its website. "Across the world, countries are properly redrafting laws relating to cannabis use with benefits for the economy, public health and levels of crime. The benefits of legalising, regulating and taxing cannabis are clear. In Denver, Colorado, over $40 million has been set aside for building new schools, with several more million dedicated to educating young people about drugs and their effects."

With the UK struggling its way out of an aggressive recession, does legalising and taxing cannabis make sense? Birch thinks so. "We think we can cut the deficit by about £900 million by legalising and taxing cannabis," he told us. "That's an early estimate. It's hard to predict but based on what we've seen happen in Colorado we think that's a reasonable number".

When pressed on research suggesting that strong strains of cannabis can be harmful to mental health, Birch was quick to point out the lack of proof. According to him, there's been evidence of correlation, but not causation. "Cannabis consumption has gone up considerably in the past 30 years," he argued, "but the cases of schizophrenia haven't. How do you square that?"

CISTA is inspired by the tried and tested model of legalisation that has proved successful in four states in America. Birch says that he envisions a future where legal cannabis would be appropriately labelled with warnings against overconsumption (like booze). He says that he would try and push people towards consuming more traditional, weaker forms of cannabis, rather than skunk.

"We just want to make sure this happens," he says. "Politicians procrastinate on this topic and don't want to talk about it. We can't see any reasons why it shouldn't happen." 

What do you think? Will you be praying that this party proves more successful than Bebo? 

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