Taking questions from the general public throughout a BBC Radio 5 Stay phone-in, the Lib Dem chief was requested if his assist for the smoking ban impacted his stance on the legalisation of hashish.

“Some folks have mentioned it’s inconsistent and it’s constant,” he mentioned.

He mentioned the occasion’s coverage was to usher in a regulated marketplace for hashish, so stronger and harmful varieties like skunk weren’t out there.

“I’m banning skunk as a result of that’s very, very dangerous to folks’s well being. And cigarette smoking, everybody sees, it’s actually clear it’s very, very dangerous,” he mentioned.

He added: “It was an actual problem for me, I’ll be trustworthy with you, as a liberal.

“I don’t like banning issues however the well being arguments on issues like skunk, on issues like cigarette smoking are so overwhelming, that in the event you’re critical concerning the NHS and also you’re critical about what occurs to households after they lose their mother and father, you simply must act.”

Sir Ed defined his place partly associated to his expertise of dropping each his mother and father to most cancers.

Requested if he had ever smoked hashish himself, he mentioned he did “on just a few events” at college however this was “very seldom”.

Pressed over whether or not the Lib Dems would think about legalising different medicine, corresponding to magic mushrooms, he mentioned the occasion wished “evidence-based well being insurance policies”.

The Lib Dem manifesto, which units out what the occasion would do if it was elected, pledges to take “‘skunk’ off the streets by introducing a authorized, regulated marketplace for hashish”.

It says gross sales can be restricted to over-18s, from licensed retailers, with strict limits on efficiency.

The manifesto additionally guarantees to unencumber police time, scale back court docket backlogs and deal with prisons overcrowding by diverting folks arrested for the possession of medication for private use into therapy the place acceptable.