Readers think weed should be legalised in Thames Valley, a poll has revealed.

Yesterday, this newspaper published a story which predicted there could be more than 200,000 new cannabis users in Thames Valley if the Class B drug is legalised.

Research by the Civitas think tank showed that Thames Valley is one of the top five places in the country where people would pick up a joint for the first time following legalisation, with 205,769 people new users forecast across the area.

READ MORE: Thames Valley may have 200,000 new cannabis users if drug is legalised

Following this, we carried out our own poll to assess if people in the area want the drug to be legalised or not.

The results were overwhelmingly in favour of legalisation, with nearly 70 per cent of readers voting that way.

The overall results found that 69 per cent of readers voted for ‘Yes, absolutely’ (361), five per cent voted ‘Maybe’ (26), two per cent were ‘Unsure’ (10), 23 per cent said ‘No, not at all’ (118) and just one per cent (5) had ‘No opinion’.

Currently, cannabis is illegal in the UK and if you are caught with it in your possession it can land you in prison for five years or 14 years if you are supplying and producing it.

However, the medical use of cannabis - which must be prescribed by a registered specialist doctor - was legalised in November 2018.

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Read more from this author

This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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