Proposal to legalise cannabis for personal use rejected

A bid to legalise the personal use of cannabis was voted down by Fine Gael delegates.

Despite the proposal receiving applause in the hall, when it came to a show of hands, the move was comprehensively rejected.

Trinity College Dublin Young Fine Gael proposed legalising the use of cannabis for “personal consumption, sale and production” on the grounds that it would take users out of the reach of dealers, expose “the so-called war on drugs” as having failed, and because no long-term link to mental illness and the banned substance had been proved.