Medicinal cannabis use under review

Everyday living
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said the Home Secretary. At last, I said.

A little girl called Charlotte Figi was one of the catalysts for change in the U.S. - for cannabis oil/medical cannabis. Will a little fella called Billy Caldwell be one of the catalysts over here, for the public and, more importantly, the politicians?

The sooner the review is completed, and medicinal cannabis is available/legal, the better - for all the people that will no longer be criminals because of their choice of medication.

The Home Secretary is working out a list of conditions that can be helped by cannabis and, due to the MS Society’s stance on lobbying Parliament for legal access to cannabis for MS, I’m expecting MS to be on the list. At last, the best treatment for nerve pain will be available for all.

I started using cannabis over 20 years ago and I have been watching and waiting for things to change. I think it’s safe to say that things are changing for the better.

I would just like to see the end of the demonisation of this plant and for all those who would benefit from this plant to be given the choice as to whether they would like to use it.

Take care :slight_smile:

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Hoo-bloody-ray. About time too. I don’t use it myself, but fully support the use of cannabis for medical purposes. Actually even for non medical use. I was just reading in the newspaper that the incidence of people going from legal recreational cannabis to harder drugs decreases in those countries and states that allow it. Also that the strength of cannabis decreases when it’s legalised. So much less of the ‘skunk’ type and therefore less of the mental health problems associated with it.

And as for the poor children whose parents are being forced to break the U.K. law in order to get their children a drug that is legal in other countries, I feel very sorry for them and hope the law is changed. And quickly.

Sue

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Taking it a stage further.

Illegal drugs are arguably the biggest problem facing mankind. When are we going to realize that prohibition does not work? We in the west; so-called First World Countries must make sure the farmers of the Poppy or Coca Leaves earn legal money to support their families.

I’d like to widen the discussion because I have lost my one and only; lovely son whose drug addiction and eventual demise started with Marihuana that can lead to Crack.

It’s a very hard decision but I think we should go like Portugal and de-criminalise every drug. Why are drugs so rife? Because pushers earn lots of money. The Police and HMC will not stop this trade although they do well; they will admit that.

Take away this by putting all drugs free under the NHS and you instantly stop 60% of people in jail stealing to fund their habit, drug barons making vast fortunes. Fewer people in Jail think of the money saved, we would even have room to incarcerate real criminals like motorists. Police would be able and have the manpower to concentrate on real crime.

Our schools are becoming ideal places for pushers to ply their evil trade, take away their money-making; I won’t say earning; trade and you will have no pushers.

Did you know it’s very rarely the drug that kills but the st it is cut with, and sometimes it is st.

A little added bonus, the NHS would be able to buy supplies from Peru or Afghanistan; the tribal leaders would soon realize it is more profitable to sell drugs legally. I believe it is assumed that 40% of money from Cocaine is estimated to go to Al Keida to fund terrorism?

The disaster lead by Bush and that puppy Blair in Afghanistan is waiting for our great troops to get out and The Taliban will reintroduce their outdated law again. Women will become second-class citizens and schools will be outlawed

The greatest advantage though is that all drug users would be known and helped to kick the habit.

In Portugal it was thought that de-criminalising drugs would make it the drug capital of the world. What has it done in reality, reduce drug taking by 10% in a year.

We must start thinking outside the box and stop just thinking it’s wrong so we will ban it. This is not a self inflicted problem it is pure pier pressure, you must take a couple of Es to enjoy yourself all night, others do?

Society cannot prohibit much if anything, what happened with Alcohol prohibition in the USA? All it led to was the rise of the Mafia.

Reasons for de-criminalizing

  • 60% less in jail
  • Less Jails needed
  • Less staff
  • Drug Barons get no money
  • Police/HMC can concentrate on real crime
  • Less Police/HMC needed
  • Stop drugs being sold in schools
  • Drugs given to people would be clean
  • Addicts can be monitored and possible weaned off
  • Would be able to buy drugs from Afghanistan
  • If done correctly it could turn that campaign into a win

Reasons to not de-criminalise

  • It is not morally right

George

1 Like
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George that was a great post. I’m very sorry to hear about your son, I can see why you are so passionate about this. Ever since I became aware of drugs and friends that would take them (fortunately I haven’t lost any to them), I’ve thought that legalising them would be a good idea. Firstly the taker would know that they are clean and not cut with anything untoward, and secondly as soon as you legalise them, you can tax them. So not only would you stop the billions of pounds going to drug lords, you would get a mighty big windfall into the NHS coffers.

2 Likes
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I’m all for changing the legality of drugs, it hasn’t worked making them illegal so make them legal, tax them and raise more revenue for public services. However I remain dubious of all the claims of cannabis being some sort of miracle drug. There has in fact been very little genuine studies on the effects of medical cannabis. It’s been hard to obtain a licence for a study in most countries due to the drug being illegal, hopefully now that some countries and states in USA have made the use legal, we will get some genuine and useful science on the effectiveness of cannabis.

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What you say is completely true. But if you’ve tried loads of pain medication and it doesn’t work, yet cannabis does, then why not use cannabis?

And the stories this week of the children suffering convulsions which stop when they take a low THC version of cannabis has convinced me that they should be able to take the drug. Yes, I know we can’t rely on everything (anything) written in the papers, but I do believe these stories.

And anecdotally many, many people with MS have found that cannabis helps them.

(I am not one of them, but firmly believe it should be legalised. And as you say, then it becomes taxable so income generating for the government and as a side benefit taking it out of the hands of drug dealers.)

Sue

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Hi all,

Billy’s mum must be so relieved now, along with other people in a similar position.

Theyve had to be seen to climb down as Mrs May’s husband allegedly invests in a company that produces medical marijuana for export.

However don’t expect too much! I don’t see us going into tents on Brighton Beach and walking away with a prescription to fill in a cannabis shop, cannabis in any form will not be available to buy in Boots or Super Drug or any other retail establishment. It’ll be VERY strictly licensed and treat like some prescription medication is.

GPs won’t, by and large, prescribe it, even if they are allowed to do so. And as consultants don’t normally prescribe anything they’ll likely bat it back to our GPs. Oh and of cause not everyone has a consultant. I didn’t see one for 23 years as my GP said I had “Benign form of MS” although recently she said my MS had been “Grumbling” after it converted to SP.

One reason I’m not expecting too much is the “man on the Clapham Omnibus” he doesn’t know about CBD/THC and thinks of “dope” when ever cannabis is mentioned, they don’t realise the Skunk that is smoked these days is not the same stuff that was past around a parties in the 60s/70s, they don’t know that CBD doesn’t give you a high and the munchies, they’ll be having visions of people driving around high as kites on medicinal marijuana! Or being demotivated sitting on the sofa eating cornflakes. MPs know the aforementioned “man” is a voter so they’ll want to keep him happy. And like, no longer assessing people with lifetime conditions for ESA the prescription of cannabis will be very limited so very few people will qualify.