The above lyrics are taken from a Bob Marley song which has been covered by UB40 entitled Legalise It; arguing for the legalisation of cannabis. The issue of drug use has been discussed recently due to critics arguing that events such as Glastonbury promote the culture of illegal drug taking. I can picture many of you, who are perhaps a bit naive when it comes to drug use reading this with a look of disgust on your face, but let's just consider the facts for a moment before we jump to the conclusion that if cannabis is legalised the United Kingdom will become a massive drugs ghetto with tens of millions of people suffering from mental health issues such as schizophrenia.

Government plans to ban ‘legal highs’ will make them as hard to get hold of as cannabis, we can report today.

Cannabis has been nigh-impossible to source in the UK ever since it was criminalised in 1928, and the government plans to extend the law to include substances which people who cannot find a dealer have been resorting to.

People who attempt to buy weed illegally have been foiled at every step and drug advisory bodies are fully in support of this latest extension to the law, describing it as “sensible and easily enforceable.”

A government spokesman told us, “Criminalisation has resulted in the blight of cannabis vanishing from this country.”

Newcastle University have made drug test kits available to students, in a progressive, pioneering move towards safer, sense-based drug policy on campus.

Available for £3 as of today, the initiative arrives on the back of Students For Sensible Drug Policy Newcastle’s recent drug awareness week – which won the NUSU award for ‘best campaign’.

Leading academics argue the GOVERNMENT should start selling the drug.

• Ian Hamilton is a mental health lecturer at the University of York 

• Dr Mark Monaghan is a social policy lecturer at Loughborough University

• They say cannabis use is falling but more people are using strong strains

• The government producing marijuana would allow it to control its strength - taking it out of the hands of organised crime and reducing health risks

​It has been linked to schizophrenia and some say it is a gateway to harder drugs.

Tristan Forde used to experience as many as 20 seizures a day. The two-year-old has Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy, and was forced to constantly wear a helmet – suffering seizures so frequently that his three-year-old brother would automatically go to the freezer and get an ice pack every time Forde had an attack.

Everything changed, however, when Forde began medical cannabis treatment last year. He went months without suffering a single seizure, said Yvonne Cahalane, Forde’s mother. “For the first time, it looked like there was a sparkle in his eyes. It sounds corny, but he just looked so much brighter.”

The inexorable momentum towards cannabis legalisation has taken hold across the globe. New, courageous policies are emerging in all corners of the earth – from Uruguay to Canada, from Ireland to Germany, a wave of positive reforms are being passed or pondered over by policymakers. 

After updating investors on its first-quarter financials, investors may be wondering if marijuana drug developer GW Pharmaceuticals' (NASDAQ:GWPH) shares should be bought or sold. Here are 3 key takeaways from GW Pharmaceuticals report that offer insight into whether this company is worth owning in portfolios.

Traders selling 'spice' will face seven-year prison sentences.

THE sale of synthetic cannabis is to be outlawed from the end of this month, it has been confirmed. 

It will be a criminal offence to sell the so-called “legal high”, which is said to be having a devastating impact on rough sleepers in Camden, from May 26 – with traders facing up to seven years in prison. 

But fears have been raised that the move will simply drive the trade further underground into the hands of criminal gangs. 

The Home Office informed ministers today that the Psychoactive Substance Act will come into force in 21 days. 

Britain’s youngest candidate for police and crime commissioner has a radical plan for slashing drug crime – stop prosecuting drug users. Ben Twomey is standing as an independent in Warwickshire and, although he’s only 22 years old, observers are already saying that he may be one of the best qualified candidates in the country.

A GROUP promoting medicinal cannabis use has today said the organisation can help Dundee’s drug problems.

The Tele was alerted to a sign promoting a “Dundee Cannabis Club” outside a store front on the city’s Strathmartine Road.

Concerns have been raised about the club — which operates out of the shop — with fears it could promote illegal cannabis use.

However, Nik Brown, manager of the club, said that the group is a “medicinal cannabis advice centre”, adding: “We are here so that people can come in and find out how they can use medicinal cannabis. We believe that cannabis should be legalised for medical uses.”

Nik told the Tele that the group has been giving advice to hundreds of people in the nine months that they have been open.