Legalising cannabis could generate hundreds of millions a year in tax and cut costs for the police and prisons, an internal Treasury report found. Regulating the market would "generate notable tax revenue" and "lead to overall savings to the criminal justice system". The Treasury study, at the behest of the Liberal Democrats when they were in coalition, was never published. Analysts reviewed the work of the Institute for Social and Economic Research, which estimated that licensing cannabis could help reduce the UK budget deficit by up to £1.25bn a year.