Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol

Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol (CISTA) was a political party in the United Kingdom, which advocated the legalisation of cannabis.

Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol
Abbreviation	CISTA
Chairperson	Paul Birch[1]
Founded	February 2015
Dissolved	November 2016
Ideology	Cannabis legalisation
Website
cista.org
Politics of the United Kingdom Political parties Elections

Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance
Chairperson	Barry Brown[2]
Founded	2017
Ideology	Cannabis legalisation
Politics of Northern Ireland Political parties Elections

The party was launched in February 2015.^[3] The party fielded candidates in the 2015 general election, campaigning for a Royal Commission to review the UK's drug laws relating to cannabis and to push the economic argument for legalisation, which it argued could generate £900 million in taxation.^[4] None of the candidates won a seat.

The party was deregistered by the Electoral Commission on 3 November 2016.^[5] Former members of the party from Northern Ireland registered a new party with the same initials, Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance, in February 2017 to contest the 2017 Assembly election.^[2]

Electoral performance

General election, 7 May 2015

The party contested 32 constituencies, with its largest share of the vote coming in East Londonderry with 527 (1.5%).

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%
Bethnal Green & Bow	Jonathan Dewey	303	0.5
Camberwell & Peckham	Alexander Robertson	197	0.4
Cities of London & Westminster	Edouard-Henri Desforges	160	0.4
Dundee, E	Lesley Parker-Hamilton	225	0.5
East Londonderry	Neil Paine	527	1.5
Eddisbury	George Antar	301	0.6
Esher & Walton	Matt Heenan	396	0.7
Glasgow, Central	James Marris	171	0.4
Glasgow, N	Russell Benson	154	0.4
Glasgow, NE	Geoff Johnson	225	0.6
Glasgow, NW	Chris MacKenzie	213	0.5
Great Yarmouth	Sam Townley	167	0.4
Guildford	Gerri Smyth	196	0.4
Hackney, S & Shoreditch	Paul Birch	297	0.6
Holborn & St Pancras	Shane O'Donnell	252	0.5
Inverclyde	Craig Hamilton	233	0.5
Islington, S & Finsbury	Jay Kirton	309	0.7
Kensington	Tony Auguste	211	0.6
Leeds, W	Matthew West	217	0.6
North Down	Glenn Donnelly	338	0.9
Paisley & Renfrewshire, N	Andy Doyle	202	0.4
Rutherglen & Hamilton, W	Yvonne Maclean	336	0.6
Sheffield, SE	Jen Battersby	207	0.5
Stoke-on-Trent, Central	Ali Majid	244	0.8
Streatham	Artificial Beast	192	0.4
Thurrock	Jamie Barnes	244	0.5
Upper Bann	Martin Kelly	460	1.0
Vale of Glamorgan	Steve Reed	238	0.5
Vauxhall	Louis Jensen	164	0.3
Wakefield	Elliot Barr	283	0.7
West Tyrone	Barry Brown	528	1.4
Woking	Declan Wade	229	0.4

Source: BBC News Election 2015^[6]

London mayoral election, 5 May 2016

Lee Harris stood for CISTA in the 2016 London Mayoral election. He finished ninth out of twelve candidates, obtaining 20,537 first-round votes (0.8%).^[7]

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 5 May 2016

The party contested four of the 18 constituencies, with its largest share of the vote in any election that the party had contested coming in Newry and Armagh with 2.2% (1,032 first-preference votes).^[8]

Constituency	Candidate	First-preference votes	%
Foyle	John Lindsay	259	0.7
Newry and Armagh	Emmet Crossan	1,032	2.2
Upper Bann	Martin Kelly	672	1.5
West Tyrone	Barry Brown	547	1.4

Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance

Following the de-registering of Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol in November 2016,^[5] a new party bearing the same initials, Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance, was registered with the Electoral Commission in February 2017,^[2] one week before the close of nominations for the snap elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The leader of this new party is Barry Brown, who was a CISTA candidate in 2016 and 2017.

Electoral performance

Northern Ireland Assembly election, 2 March 2017

The party contested three of the 18 constituencies, with its largest share of the vote coming in Newry and Armagh with 704 first-preference votes (1.3%).

Constituency	Candidate	First-preference votes	%
Foyle	John Lindsay[9]	196	0.4
Newry and Armagh	Emmet Crossan[10]	704	1.3
West Tyrone	Barry Brown[11]	373	0.8

2017 United Kingdom general election

Constituency	Candidate	Votes	%	Position
West Tyrone	Barry Brown	393	0.9	7[12]

See also

• Cannabis classification in the United Kingdom
• Cannabis in the United Kingdom
• Cannabis Law Reform
• Cannabis political parties
• Drug policy reform
• List of British politicians who have acknowledged cannabis use
• List of political parties in the United Kingdom

References

1. "Interview: Paul Birch, founder of UK party for a review into cannabis law". The Mancunian. 14 March 2015. Archived from the original on 16 March 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
2. "Registration - Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
3. Lamiat Sabin, "Cannabis party called Cista launched in UK to campaign for drug law reform ahead of elections", The Independent, 14 February 2015
4. "New UK political party wants to make cannabis an election issue". The Guardian. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 20 March 2015.
5. Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol [De-registered 03/11/16]. The Electoral Commission. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
6. BBC News Election 2015. Results for Bethnal Green & Bow, Camberwell & Peckham, Cities of London & Westminster, Dundee East, East Londonderry, Eddisbury, Esher & Walton, Glasgow Central, Glasgow North, Glasgow North East, Glasgow North West, Great Yarmouth, Guildford, Hackney South & Shoreditch, Holborn & St Pancras, Inverclyde, Islington South & Finsbury, Kensington, Leeds West, North Down, Paisley & Renfrewshire, N, Rutherglen & Hamilton West, Sheffield South East, Stoke-on-Trent Central, Streatham, Thurrock, Upper Bann, Vale of Glamorgan , Vauxhall, Wakefield, West Tyrone, Woking
7. "Politics Live: Election results coverage". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
8. "NI Election 2016: Results". BBC News. 6 May 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
9. Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED Foyle
10. Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED Newry and Armagh
11. Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, STATEMENT OF PERSONS NOMINATED West Tyrone
12. "Election 2017: West Tyrone", BBC News. Retrieved 12 June 2017

External links

• Official website
• Paul Birch, "The economic case for legalising cannabis", The Telegraph, 4 March 2015
• Election 2015: Cannabis is Safer than Alcohol Party, BBC News, 31 March 2015
• Lee Harris, the moral crusader turned cannabis activist vying to be London mayor, The Guardian, 12 March 2016