Clamour for law review of cannabis on medical grounds
The Home Office is refusing to change the legal status of cannabis despite calls from a former Conservative Party leader for a review of the Government’s public health-related drugs policy.
William Hague joined a plethora of politicians from all persuasions urging Theresa May to review the law.
Lord Hague reportedly said the war against the drug has been “comprehensively and irreversibly lost” and said the Prime Minister should be “bold”.
He told the Telegraph that it is “deluded” to take the view that the drug will be “driven off the streets”.
His comments come amid the controversy surrounding a severe epilepsy sufferer’s mother having cannabis oil confiscated at Heathrow airport after flying in from Canada last week.
Billy Caldwell’s condition quickly worsened to critical on Friday night (June 15) – prompting Home Secretary Sajid Javid to agree to return some of the cannabis oil, after doctors made clear it was a medical emergency.
The Government has faced mounting pressure to review the UK’s laws, however the Home Office has only gone as far as to admit a limited licence for the drug to be administered to the 12-year-old in hospital for 20 days.
The boy’s mother, Charlotte Caldwell, is seeking a meeting with the Home Secretary to discuss re-thinking “massively outdated” laws on medical marijuana so other children can receive treatment.
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott has had a change of heart on the issue too.
Just three months ago, she was “not in favour” of relaxing laws around cannabis and criticised the “war on drugs” approach. Now she is calling on ministers to drop the “heavy-handed and bureaucratic approach” to health-related drug use.
In a statement on Tuesday, she added: “A number of recent heart-breaking cases have highlighted a failure of Government policy.”
She went on to confirm that a Labour government would legalise the prescription of cannabis oil for medical purposes and mount a review into public health related drugs policy.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Government has no intention of reviewing the classification of cannabis and it will remain a class B drug. Classification is completely separate to scheduling regulations.
“Any debate within government about the efficacy and therapeutic use of cannabis-based medicines emphatically does not extend to any review regarding the classification of cannabis and the penalties for the illicit possession, cultivation and trafficking of cannabis will remain the same.
“There is strong scientific and medical evidence that cannabis is a harmful drug which can harm people’s mental and physical health and can damage communities.
“The Government is clear – we must prevent drug use in our communities and help those dependent on drugs to recover, while ensuring our drugs laws are enforced.”
All-Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform chair Crispin Blunt this week urged the Home Office to “clear out of the way” and let the Department of Health take control of policy on medical cannabis.
A new expert panel of clinicians is to be established to give swift advice on the prescription of cannabis-based medicines to individual patients, the Government has since announced.
