Indeed they do, 3Ts. But there's a little more to it than that.
“The cannabis smokers face the same restrictions on WHERE they can smoke as normal smokers.”
That’s not quite correct. The “No Smoking” legislation (which was introduced in 2007 and prevents you smoking a cigarette in the pub) applies to all substances. Here’s an extract from the legislation:
…“smoking” refers to smoking tobacco or anything which contains tobacco, or smoking any other substance, and
(b) smoking includes being in possession of lit tobacco or of anything lit which contains tobacco, or being in possession of any other lit substance in a form in which it could be smoked.
So, you are not permitted to light up your tobacco in the pub but you can legitimately go outside for a drag.
Similarly, under the above law, you are not permitted to light up your cannabis in the pub. However possession of a controlled drug (of which cannabis is class ‘B’) is an offence under the misuse of drugs act 1971 and carries a maximum of five years’ custody (for class B). So not only can you not light up in the pub but you also risk prosecution if you have cannabis in your possession (whether being smoked or not) anywhere else– including your own home. So there certainly are more restrictions on where cannabis can be smoked than those on tobacco.
The fact is that police in many areas have decided not to bother with offenders who have committed an offence which carries a maximum 5 year jail term. Quite who gave them the authority to pick and choose which offences they would arbitrarily rule effectively as being outside their jurisdiction is a little unclear and perhaps that needs looking into.