Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | CISTA |
Chairperson | Paul Birch [1] |
Founded | February 2015 |
Dissolved | November 2016 |
Ideology | Cannabis legalisation |
Website | |
cista | |
Citizens Independent Social Thought Alliance | |
---|---|
Chairperson | Barry Brown [2] |
Founded | 2017 |
Ideology | Cannabis legalisation |
Cannabis Is Safer Than Alcohol (CISTA) was a political party in the United Kingdom, which advocated the legalisation of cannabis.
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]
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]
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]
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 |
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.
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 |
Constituency | Candidate | Votes | % | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
West Tyrone | Barry Brown | 393 | 0.9 | 7 [12] |
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