Legalise Cannabis Alliance

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The Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA)^[1] is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom campaigning for the legalisation of cannabis for all purposes, including medicinal and recreational drug use. It was formed in Norwich in 1992 with name Campaign to Legalise Cannabis International. From 1999 to 2006, with the name Legalise Cannabis Alliance, it was a registered political party, with Alun Buffry as its leader, fielding candidates in elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and to local government councils.

The party used a cannabis leaf image as its emblem, and Cannabis : legalise and utilise (ISBN 0-9535693-1-4) served as its election manifesto. The manifesto takes at face value Jack Herer's claims in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, 1994, (ISBN 0-9524560-0-1), about the potential of cannabis as a source of renewable fuel.

1 History
- 1.1 Election results
- 1.2 Top Gear appearance
2 See also
3 Notes and references

[edit] History

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The party was registered in March 1999,^{[citation needed]} after Howard Marks had stood as a legalise cannabis candidate in four different constituencies in the 1997 general election: Norwich North, Norwich South, Southampton Test and Neath. In the same general election Buster Nolan described himself as the New Millennium, New Way, Legalise Cannabis candidate in the Braintree constituency.

The first official LCA candidate in a parliamentary election was Colin Paisley in the November 1999 byelection in Kensington and Chelsea. He took 141 (0.7%) of the votes.^{[citation needed]} The second was Derrick Large in the May 2000 Romsey byelection, who took 417 (1.1%) of the votes.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2001 general election the party had candidates in 13 constituencies. Their best result was in Workington, where John Peacock took 1040 (2.5%) of the votes.

In January 2004 cannabis prohibition in the UK was relaxed. Cannabis had been a class B substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: it became a class C substance. Many people saw this change as virtual 'decriminalisation'

In the 2005 general election the LCA contested 21 constituencies. This was eight more than in the 2001 general election, but included only six that had been contested in that previous election. In all these six constituencies the LCA suffered a fall in its share of the vote, and the average share across 21 constituencies was well down from that across the previous 13. Their best results were in Orkney and Shetland, Worthing East and Shoreham and Leigh. In Orkney and Shetland, Paul Cruickshank took 1.8% of the votes. Thomas Hampson in Leigh and Chris Baldwin in Worthing East and Shoreham both took 1.5% of the votes.

The party voted to de-register at a conference in Norwich on November 11, 2006, and to continue as a pressure group.

[edit] Election results

Election	Constituency or constituencies	Candidate or candidates	Votes	Share (%)	Change
1999 Kensington and Chelsea byelection	Kensington and Chelsea	Colin Paisley	141	0.7	N/A
2000 Romsey byelection	Romsey	Derrick Large	417	1.1	N/A
2001 general election	Braintree	Michael Nolan	774	1.5	N/A
	Calder Valley	Philip Lockwood	672	1.4	N/A
	Carlisle	Colin Paisley	554	1.6	N/A
	Chelmsford West	Herb Philbin	693	0.9	N/A
	East Worthing and Shoreham	Chris Baldwin	920	2.1	N/A
	Edinburgh South	Margaret Hendry	535	1.4	N/A
	Hull North	Carl Wagner	478	1.7	N/A
	Milton Keynes South West	Patman Denning	500	1.1	N/A
	North East Fife	Leslie Von Goetz	420	1.2	N/A
	Norwich South	Alsie Buffry	620	1.5	N/A
	Penrith and the Border	Mark Gibson	870	2.0	N/A
	Romsey	Derrick Large	601	1.2	+0.1
	Workington	John Peacock	1040	2.5	N/A
2005 general election	Canterbury	Rocky van de Benderskum	326	0.7	N/A
	Carlisle	Lezley Gibson	343	1.0	-0.6
	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	Sid James Whitworth	343	0.7	N/A
	Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South	Alex Daszak	343	0.6	N/A
	Conwy	Tim Evans	193	0.6	N/A
	East Surrey	Winston Matthews	410	0.8	N/A
	East Worthing and Shoreham	Chris Baldwin	677	1.5	-0.6
	Great Yarmouth	Michael Skipper	389	0.9	N/A
	Hull East	Carl Wagner	182	0.6	N/A
	Hull North	Carl Wagner	179	0.6	-1.1
	Leigh	Thomas Hampson	415	1.5	N/A
	Neath	Pat Tabram	334	0.9	N/A
	Norwich South	Don Barnard	219	0.5	-1.0
	Orkney and Shetland	Paul Cruickshank	311	1.8	N/A
	Penrith and the Border	Mark Gibson	549	1.2	-0.8
	South Dorset	Vic Hamilton	282	0.6	N/A
	Swansea West	Steve Pank	218	0.7	N/A
	Vale of Clwyd	Jeff Ditchfield	286	0.9	N/A
	Workington	John Peacock	381	1.0	-1.5
	Worthing West	Chris Baldwin	550	1.2	N/A
	Ynys Mon	Tim Evans	232	0.7	N/A

[edit] Top Gear appearance

In 2002/3 the legalise cannabis campaigners raise awarness on a fake election on top gear where the new prime minister was to be decided by a race around a track, the candidate came second out of 6 and behind the Liberal Democrats