MPs call for medical cannabis to be made legal

[LurkingHusband]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37336678

Taking cannabis for medical reasons should be made legal, says a cross-party group of UK politicians.
The All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform says there is clear evidence cannabis could have a therapeutic role for some conditions, including chronic pain and anxiety.
It says tens of thousands of people in the UK already break the law to use the drug for symptom relief.
But the Home Office says there are no plans to legalise the "harmful drug."

(contd)

plus ....

'I know cannabis is illegal, but it is medicinal'

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37318935

Cannabis should be legalised for medical use, a cross-party group of MPs has said, but there are thousands of people already using the Class B drug for this purpose.
"I am seriously considering emigrating to Australia, Jamaica or the US," says Faye Jones.
The 32-year-old PA from Wokingham jumps every time there's a knock at the door and tiptoes around neighbours who might call the police.
Her crime? Five years ago, Faye was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and after suffering from the side effects of prescribed drugs, she now uses cannabis to ease her pain, nausea and inflammation.
In the UK, where cannabis is a Class B drug, police can issue warnings or on-the-spot fines for possession of a small amount, while courts can impose sentences of up to five years for possession of larger amounts and up to 14 years for those who supply or produce it.
Faye - a campaigner for United Patients Alliance (UPA), which is calling for cannabis to be legally accessed by patients - has a raft of places she could start a new life.
Medicinal cannabis is legal - or being legalised - in 25 US states, and in countries from Canada to Italy.

(contd)

[ProfessorPreciseaBug]

Medics happily fill you with heroine for pain relief... But that's ok as it is prescribed.

[BeyondPolkadots]

Medicinal cannabis is something that the UK are waaay behind the rest of the world on. Personally, it doesn't seem to help my symptoms, but there are so many people that it does. Very happy (and unsurprised!) to see my MP is on this :)

[MephistophelesApprentice]

You'd have thought the Conservatives would have been all over this, what with the potential for profit.

Personally I think it should just be legalised, as the potential tax would probably solve most of the NHS and elderly care issues almost immediately.

[LurkingHusband]

It is a ridiculous stance when our official line is "cannabis is dangerous and illegal" yet it is widely available in many other countries

And you can buy a litre of vodka and a 20 pack of B&H in any corner store. Both of which are fatal doses.

The problem with laws based on bollocks, is it doesn't really inspire faith in other laws, nor the criminal justice system as a whole.

[Bountybarsyuk]

I am a firm supporter of medical cannabis, by which I mean I think it should not be a Schedule One drug, but should be an option and also be better trialed to see if works.

The current classification isn't just that it's illegal, but that it has no medicinal purpose (therapeutic value), that's that the Schedule part of it, and even just changing that (whilst it remaining illegal for recreational use) would be a huge step forward.

As everyone has already said, the Uk is increasingly out of step with even conservative countries on drug use like the US. It's embarassing and unjustified.

I'm not a 'marijuana can cure all' person at all, and I'm not sure if it would be as helpful as is claimed, but that's why we need to take it off Schedule One so there can be more testing.

[BeyondPolkadots]

"And you can buy a litre of vodka and a 20 pack of B&H in any corner store. Both of which are fatal doses."

Well exactly, lurking! I have enough morphine in my house to kill a small elephant, given to me courtesy of the NHS

[PinkSwimGoggles]

if it's medical, it should be approved and monitored like a medicine.
it's too dangerous to be unregulated imo

[CalmYaTits]

Alcohol is more likely to harm you than cannabis.

[LurkingHusband]

I have enough morphine in my house to kill a small elephant, given to me courtesy of the NHS

Ah, morphine, the Gold Standard last resort of pain relief.

Addictive, possible to overdose, hallucinogenic, and (according to MrsLH) as useless for MS pain as homeopathy. What could go wrong ?

[mathsmum314]

It should be legal aspa, its ridiculous that I have to buy my cannabis from a skivey manboy down the road, when I could be buying it from a pharmacy and contributing VAT to the state. Then we can put the dealers out of business and have safer neighborhoods.

[TheUser420]

mathsmum314

It is possible with very little space to grow your own - dump the dealer. Then you know exactly what you are getting.

Don't tell,
Don't sell,
Don't smell

[mathsmum314]

TheUser420
I have considered that but everything I have ever grown has died .
Maybe its worth a try though

[LurkingHusband]

Some German news ...

www.dw.com/en/germany-allows-ms-patient-to-grow-cannabis-in-unprecedented-case/a-35945560

[Aeroflotgirl]

Yes I totally agree with cannabis for medical purposes. We are so behind.

[gobbin]

How about you all use your Google and find out what actually IS going on!
There are plenty of studies around the world , including UK and USA looking into isolating specific compounds from cannabis for medicinal use - already Sativex is licensed in the UK for thise with MS.

Just like in 2016 you're not expected to be chomping on an opium poppy to get max pain relief these days, and we have access to controlled opiates, there is work going on to isolate the cannabinoids that work from the ones that fry your brain and lead to schizophrenia.

[LurkingHusband]

gobbin

Very few health authorities will fund SativeX (ours won't).

By all means carry on with studies - get some definitive data.

In the meantime, with no SativeX, it's better to chomp on an opium poppy (or in this case, grow a plant) than live in pain.

Just to balance your understanding, there's also work going on to isolate the cannabinoids which prevent schizophrenia, given that there is a school of though that the illegality of cannabis has driven the development of THC-heavy strains, weakening the effects of CBD as an anti psychotic.

Best data is coming from Colorado, where medical strains are being bred and tested daily by a large patient base.