A BRADFORD councillor backed calls to legalise cannabis at the Liberal Democrats' spring conference in York.
In a landmark vote at the party’s spring conference, delegates voted in favour of licensing shops to sell cannabis with health warnings and in plain packaging to adults in Britain.
Speaking during a debate on the issue, Councillor Geoff Reid (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said: "Dutch coffee shops, cannabis clubs - fine - no problem - but not really relevant to our ward in Eccleshill, Bradford.
"We are one of Yorkshire's top hotspots for burglary and we come top out of 30 wards for anti-social behaviour - some of it fuelled by alcohol and other drugs.
"There is something rather pathetic about people stealing metal grates from the gutters and lawnmowers from garden sheds to feed their habits. Pathetic, yes, but blighting the lives of low-income local residents."
He called for a "necessary intervention and regulation of a huge market to keep us safer on our streets and in our modest back gardens", adding: "Let's pass this relatively modest motion and go forward from there."
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