The Children’s Commissioner has backed plans to decriminalise recreational cannabis use for adults but warned that government proposals must be further fleshed out to better protect children. 

In a statement issued in response to the government’s plans, the commissioner said that the proposals made no mention of how children would be protected from second-hand cannabis smoke and provided no details about the legal framework that would be in place to enforce safeguards protecting children from the drug. 

The government proposals, unveiled in a White Paper last March, would see adults permitted to grow up to four cannabis plants in a concealed area inside their own home and allowed to carry up to 7g of cannabis on them without facing any criminal charges.

Cannabis will continue to be illegal for minors to use or carry, though the White Paper proposals not making children face criminal prosecution if they are caught with the substance. 

In its reaction, the Office of the Commissioner for Children said it agreed with that stance and believed the substance should remain illegal for very young adults too, saying that the best form of deterrence was education. 

“Adults should be educated among other things on the importance of weighing the safety, needs and well-being of the children they care for in choosing if and when to consume cannabis,” the commissioner said. 

“There needs to be more investment in educational and therapeutic drugs-related services that are specific to children,” it said, adding that it wanted to see a national drug policy with a strategy including specific provisions for minors and young adults. 

It however warned that the proposals in their current form lacked clarity when it came to the legal safeguards that would protect children from exposure to cannabis. 

Infringing safeguards designed to protect children from cannabis should be a criminal offence, the office argued, with adherence to those safeguards subject a “rigorous regulatory regime” administered by the proposed cannabis authority.

That regime, it said, should tie the cultivation and use of cannabis to strict conditions regarding exactly where cannabis can be consumed and stored so as to minimise the risk for children.