Legalising pot would save £1.6bn

Legalisation of cannabis could save the taxpayer more than £1.6bn - the equivalent of two Millennium Domes - MPs will be told in a new independent report.

Legalisation of cannabis could save the taxpayer more than £1.6bn - the equivalent of two Millennium Domes - MPs will be told in a new independent report.

Tony Blair yesterday was resisting the growing cross-party demands for a Royal Commission on cannabis but the report by the widely respected House of Commons library could undermine the Prime Minister's stand.

Mr Blair was already facing difficulty after Yvette Cooper, the Health Minister, joined the growing list of politicians who have confessed to using the drug. In spite of his personal views, Mr Blair was forced to give the green light to other ministers who want to confess to their own use of the drug.

Mr Blair said he would not gag his ministers from confessing about using drugs at university. "It's up to people to decide what they want to do," he said.

Pressed about Ms Cooper's confession on drugs, Mr Blair said: "I don't think it's important. What is important is making sure we fight organised crime and the drugs trade properly."

In a fresh blow to Mr Blair's stand, the independent House of Commons research paper says that cannabis users are costing Britain a £790m a year on police courts and prisons.

That will give further ammunition to the senior police chiefs who have warned against wasting police resources by cracking down on soft drug users.

The report to MPs says assuming that cannabis products would be subject to the same levels of taxation and duty as currently paid on cigarettes, "Government revenue would increase by approximately £1bn a year, suggesting a gain to the public purse of around about £1.6bn a year".

Martin Salter, the Labour backbencher, who is leading the campaign for a Royal Commission on cannabis to be set up, said: "There is now an unanswerable case for an inquiry to look at all aspects of cannabis use."

However, with so many politicians of all parties confessing to using the drug, the Government risks losing the momentum for an autumn assault on the Tories if he cannot put the cannabis controversy to one side by ordering a high-powered inquiry.

In one of its main findings, the Commons library report on cannabis said many felt current legislative control of cannabis was "ineffective and counterproductive", and that legalisation would allow a more credible preventive education message against more harmful drugs.

The findings also challenge the assertion by Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, that cannabis "is two and four times as carcinogenic as tobacco". The report says: "There is as yet no epidemiological evidence for an increased risk of lung cancer."

However, it adds that the tar yield is similar to tobacco and, as with tobacco smoking, it could take 20 years to establish a clear link with cancer.