SADIQ Khan’s barmy plan to legalise weed on the capital’s streets are up in smoke after Priti Patel slammed the idea.
The Home Secretary told the London Mayor to focus on soaring crime rates on his patch after he pitch rolled legalising the drug.
Mr Khan toured legal cannabis farms and dispensaries on a tour of California after appointing a drugs tsar to explore legalisation of cannabis.
And he even sparked an internal row within Labour, after Labour allies slapped down his proposals.
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is said to be against the idea, while the party said it had no plans to allow Mayors to choose drug policy and would not change the law.
The Home Secretary said Mr Khan’s time would “be better spent” focusing on tackling knife crime in London after he announced he was launching a commission to assess the effectiveness of UK drug laws.
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In a rebuke on Twitter, Ms Patel said: “Sadiq Khan’s time would be better spent focusing on knife and drug crime in London. The Mayor has no powers to legalise drugs. They ruin communities, tear apart families and destroy lives.”
Mr Khan praised the “high standards” of legalised cannabis farms in the US during a tour of the country.
Former justice secretary Lord Charlie Falconer QC has been appointed as chairman of the first London Drugs Commission, which will use research from University College London and particularly focus on the class B drug cannabis but will not consider class A drugs.
Mr Khan said an “honest, open” conversation was needed about UK cannabis laws and he hopes the panel will look at “what happens elsewhere in the world where the laws have been changed”.
During the four-day tour, billed as a “fact-finding mission” he visited a Los Angeles cannabis dispensary and farm as well as a shop that sold sweets infused with the drug.
Describing the farm as “heavily regulated” with “really high standards”, he said: “It’s important to see for ourselves what the parallel world of legalised cannabis looks like as a compare and contrast.”
A Labour spokesperson said: “Labour does not support changing the law on drugs. Drugs policy is not devolved to mayors and under Labour would continue to be set by national government.”
