The ban on cannabis should be lifted for medical use, the Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas said today (Tuesday 13 September).
She spoke out as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform published a report on the subject.
Dr Lucas, who co-chairs the group, said: “This report makes clear how the current ban on personal use of medicinal cannabis flies in the face of robust evidence about the benefits for people enduring chronic pain, the side effects of chemotherapy and other conditions.
“It also demonstrates how these benefits can be realised without any increase in the recreational use of cannabis or in drug related harms.
“The UK is lagging behind many other nations when it comes to recognising the therapeutic value of cannabis.
“Twenty four US states, Canada, Israel and at least 11 European countries already ensure access to cannabis for medical use.
“Yet here in Britain ministers won’t follow the evidence on the issue and seem hell-bent on continuing to criminalise individuals who simply want some respite from the pain that are suffering.
“Rather than continuing what’s a purely ideological opposition, the government should act fast to legalise the production and use of medicinal cannabis and do so on the basis of the evidence about what kind of regulatory framework will best work for patients and for society as a whole.”
The All-Party Parliamentary Group’s report called on the government to legalise medical cannabis based on the results of its seven-month inquiry into the issue – and on the findings of an independent review of global evidence commissioned by the group which ran alongside the inquiry.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group’s other co-chair, Molly Meacher, said: “The findings of our inquiry and review of evidence from across the world are clear.
“Cannabis works as a medicine for a number of medical conditions.”
Baroness Meacher added: “The evidence has been strong enough to persuade a growing number of countries and US states to legalise access to medical cannabis.
“Against this background, the UK scheduling of cannabis as a substance that has no medical value is irrational.”
The Labour MP Frank Field MP said: “Britain is lagging behind much of the developed world by failing to grant very sick patients legal access to cannabis to help ease their chronic pain or other severe symptoms.
“Hundreds of thousands of people in our country are forced to decide between putting up with unbearable pain, spasticity or chronic nausea or alternatively, breaking the law.
“Compassion demands that we grant those people legal access to prescribed cannabis if their doctor feels it will make life more bearable.
“Such a change has got to be rigorously enforced so it is not seen as a move to general legalisation. But there is no one better to introduce and enforce this measure than Mrs (Theresa) May.”
