Unfortunately I fear us brits can only ever experience the joy of unfettered recreational use vicariously via posts such as yours. My government is a bunch of cunts.
I hear you on that! New Zealand govt also dragging its feet. They wasted money on a stupid referendum which was nothing more than way for them to play it both ways. Then an extremist religious group got vocal and active spouting the usual outdated BS and surprise surprise the govt now gets to say, "Sorry, not our fault you vote against it. We're just listening to the people", ignoring that it was incredibly close and non-binding so they could make recreational legal anyway. Would be the first referendum the govt has ignored the results of.
They've sat on drug harms studies for decades and successive government just don't give a fuck, they care more about their political careers.