While personal use of marijuana is decriminalised in the UK, Robin believes in the benefits of the bold step.
The 68-year-old believes a complete government-approved series of vendors and stores would also neutralise international drug smuggling gangs’ control.
Speaking to Mirror, Robin said: “I think we should definitely be taking a leaf out of California’s book. I think if you decriminalise; you take the crime out of it, you take the criminal element out of it, take the gang element out of it, and all of a sudden, you have a thriving industry that also gives a lot of tax.
“If it’s legal and it’s legal to buy, there could be a tax on it and make massive contributions to the national health service.”
Robin admits that he has grave concerns about the future of the NHS. “We have got a Tory government, of course, I worry about the NHS. They never wanted it in the first place and spent the last 60 years trying to dismantle it.
“As we speak, while they are hiding behind royal funerals, they are privatising our national health and selling it off to American health companies.”
Robin, speaking to mark the band’s 45th anniversary, believes that the impact of hash and weed is less significant than alcohol.
“I do not think it is more dangerous than alcohol. I certainly think there are more problems with addiction to alcohol than with addiction to marijuana,” he said.
“I don’t think marijuana is addictive in the same way as alcohol. I am sure it is psychologically addictive but not physically. And alcohol is certainly a more dangerous drug, as far as I can tell.”
Robin also revealed that he was a long-term marijuana user but has quit all forms of smoking. He added: “I personally do not smoke weed, but I have done for many years of my life. I just stopped.
“I had been smoking for forty years of my life, and I just thought it was about time, and I knocked it on the head.
“And I felt the same way about smoking weed too. I enjoyed it for a long time and just decided to stop. I had been doing it for too long, and I did not want it to take over my life. It probably had taken over my life, and I just wanted to change things.
“That was just a personal decision. I still have many friends that smoke, and I totally support their right to do so. I don’t believe for one minute that vaping is more healthy. That is a commercial fallacy that has been pushed around.
“If you see any of the tests that have been done, the amount of poison in vapes is at least as dangerous as in cigarettes. I have never vaped in my life. And I do not think for one minute it is a better way to go. Gummies are not a bad idea. I have never tried them.”
In 2021 Duncan’s brother and ex-band singer Ali revealed that smoking dope helped him beat his drinking issues. Ali was downing two bottles of whisky a day and was told by a top Harley Street doctor if he did not curb his drinking, he would die.
He went cold turkey and got healthier, thanking smoking cannabis for his recovery.
Robin just made headlines expressing his dismay that his band publicly lamented at the start of their careers in the late 1970s – seems to be in a similar, if not worse, state in 2022.
Band leader Robin is livid that his Brummie act’s observations on life back then – accentuated by “The Winter Of Discontent’ – have not altered.
And the singer and guitarist pins the blame solely on Conservative influence and policies, for over four decades dominating policies and society.
Robin is “disappointed” that “not a lot changes” as Britain faces a challenging winter with impossible energy bills, disgruntled worker strikes, inflation and a tough recession.
UB40’s poignant early tunes like One In Ten, Food For Thought and Madam Medusa ignited the youth in a country struggling with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, Tory policies and the rise of extreme groups and racism.
Robin said of his homeland’s current state: “What a horrible thought that after 40-odd years, it has gone full circle, and we are back to where we were.”
UB40 play The Palms Pool Las Vegas on July 22. They will celebrate their 45th anniversary in Birmingham, UK on August 27.
Source: Mirror
Image: Pexels
