The Lib Dems have adopted a plan legalise cannabis shops as their party policy. 

Their party wants to see:

• Licensed shops sell cannabis to over 18s
• The strength of cannabis regulated
• Smokers allowed to grow plants at home
• Plain packaging with health information

But how many people in Wales use cannabis or other drugs?

How many of us smoke cannabis?

6.1% of adults (under 59) in Wales say they smoked cannabis at least once last year.

Tommy Sheridan has launched a petition calling for cannabis to be legalised in the UK.

The former Solidarity MSP, launced the petition earlier, in a bid to legalise what he calls the  "non-criminal action" of using cannabis, and directing the money raised from taxing the drug into drug treatment programmes.

Only 98 people have signed his petition on change.org since the petition was launched yesterday.

The petition is called "Legalise, regulate, licence and tax cannabis. Drop the stupid 'war' on drugs. Wise up." and is directed at the UK Parliament.

On the site, calling for people to sign his petition, Tommy said: "The consumption of cannabis is a recreational choice not a criminal act.

Many people enjoy the light buzz of hitting a joint, but for a select few even just a puff or two can cause paranoid delusions. Scientists from England have uncovered a gene that may predict the likelihood of somebody suffering from psychosis after smoking cannabis.

After the Lib Dems’ betrayal of young people over tuition fees, this last-gasp effort to turn things around is unlikely to impress.

hen I was about 15, my friend’s parents got divorced. Her mum seemed to really flourish following the split but her dad took it extremely badly. Without the security of his marriage he felt exposed and alone, and he responded by desperately latching on to his teenage children in an attempt to rediscover his lost youth. His house became a popular place to hang out because of his lax attitude towards loud music, underage drinking and recreational drug use. Sometimes, he’d even smoke a spliff and share it with my friend’s older brother and his mates.

Almost 50 years ago The Times published one of the most famous editorials in the history of British newspapers. A few weeks before Mick Jagger was heavily fined thousands of pounds after a punitive trial for possession of cannabis. Conservative and middle-aged England thought he deserved it. But William Rees-Mogg, the then editor of The Times was unhappy. In a legendary leader he invoked Alexander Pope as he railed against the “primitive” impulse to “break a butterfly on a wheel”.

Sales of cannabis to over-18s in the UK should be legalised and "social clubs" should be established to sell it, the Liberal Democrats have said.

The party has backed a study that argues cannabis can't be eliminated by a "total ban" and that it should, instead, be regulated. The report, A framework for a regulated market for cannabis in the UK, puts forward a number of suggestions for how drug policy should be updated: 

Legalising cannabis could raise £1bn annually in tax, a new study by the Liberal Democrats has claimed. 

According to the report, "credible estimates" have shown £1bn in government revenue could be raised, and the panel conducting the study recommended taxing cannabis in line with its potency. 

As has been the case in US states such as Colorado and Washington, the expert panel behind the report called for the sale of cannabis to be legalised to over-18s from specialist, licensed retail stores. 

Other proposals included setting up a new regulator to oversee the market, allowing home-cultivation for personal use and setting up small-scale licensed cannabis social clubs. 

Anti-drug activists think that a few puffs on a joint will turn you into a red-eyed, unemployed psychopath – probably for life.

But is marijuana actually that bad for you?

With several American states having decriminalised the herb for personal use, scientists have suddenly had the chance to see what cannabis actually does on a mass scale.

And guess what? Cannabis actually has some VERY surprising health benefits. Here’s a few.

1) Smoking weed makes you thinner – or at least less likely to be obese

Cannabis should be sold legally in licensed shops to raise £1bn a year in tax for the Treasury, according to a North East police chief and academic.

And people should be allowed to grow cannabis in their own homes, as long as it is for personal use.

The recommendations were published by a panel of experts including Mike Barton, Chief Constable of Durham Police, and Professor Fiona Measham, Professor of Criminology at Durham University, after they were commissioned by the Liberal Democrats to look at drugs laws.

Their findings will now be put to the Liberal Democrat spring conference in York, and could become party policy.

Study calls for UK to follow lead of some US states and allow the sale of cannabis to over-18s in licensed retail stores

Legalising the sale of cannabis in specialist shops would generate £1bn a year in tax revenue and reduce the harm done to users and society, according to the most detailed plans ever drawn up for the liberalisation of UK drug laws.