‘Stop taxing beer and lure Gen Z off hashish’, says Jeremy Clarkson

Clarkson’s Farm host says work sickness rates will plummet if folk have pint with pals rather than getting stoned

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Clarkson has owned Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds since 2008
(Image: Getty Images)

Jeremy Clarkson reckons the Government should stop taxing beer to lure G-Zedders off weed. The Clarkson’s Farm host said work sickness rates would plummet if folk had a pint with their pals rather than getting stoned.

He confessed he is allergic to cannabis which makes him throw up. But he said the drug can also cause mental health woes to young users who choose it as a cheap alternative to booze.

Clarkson, 65, who runs a brewery and pub which features in his hit TV show, reckons his plan could save Rachel Reeves cash. The £12.5bn-a-year the Chancellor would lose by removing booze tax would more than offset the up to £57bn cost to the economy of Gen Zs taking time off due to mental health anguish.

Clarkson, 65, said cost was the main reason folk were ditching booze for weed. “Beer at £6-a-pint is the main problem,” he said

“Because £6 may as well be £6m if you have a student loan to pay off. These kids say they haven’t lost the desire to get a bit of a buzz on with their mates – they’ve simply worked out that weed costs a hell of a lot less than going to the pub and they have a point.

“One round of drinks for four is £24. A gram of weed is about half that. And remember they have been told this drug comes from a plant which means it snuggles nicely in the warm underbelly of the socialist, woke, anti-meat agenda.

“It’s kale in a Rizla. Cheap. Fun. And healthier than booze. But is it? When I was at school no one had mental health issues.

“In the days when people drank beer with their friends after work they were largely happy and only skipped work if their leg had come off. Whereas today when they smoke weed instead of drinking beer they go home in floods of tears if the staff canteen runs out of teabags.

“It seems there are many experts who do think that weed, especially the super-strong stuff that kids are buying today, does cause or at least exacerbate mental health issues, especially with younger people.”

Clarkson, who revealed the drug makes him ‘explosively sick’, said he was ‘staggered’ the Green Party wants to legalise it when ‘we should do the exact opposite’.

“We should do everything in our power to dissuade people from smoking it,” he said. “And we should start by removing all taxes on pubs and breweries so that the healthy, friendly alternative they offer becomes more attractive than ingesting a foulness that makes you violent and boring.

“Plus it would level the playing field because Derek, the man in the dimly lit car park from whom your kids get their skunk? He’s not paying tax, is he? So why should I on the beer I sell?

“Sure, if we remove tax from alcohol, Rachel Reeves would lose £12.5bn-a-year.

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“But think what she’d save if everyone currently sitting in a dope-infused fug of paranoia and despair suddenly cleared their heads and went back to work.”

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