UK Cannabis
Campaigner Clara O’Donnell Hails Drug Law Change
Source:
Evening Telegraph, Coventry, UK
Pub
Date: Wednesday January 28, 2004
Subj:
Campaigner hails drug law change
Author:
Emma Race
URL:
http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0125nwarksnews/page.cfm?objectid=13865120&method=full&siteid=50003
Contact:
letters@coventry-telegraph.co.uk
CAMPAIGNER
HAILS DRUG LAW CHANGE
A
Warwickshire woman who is involved in a campaign for cannabis to be legalised,
has hailed the reclassification of the drug - to take effect from tomorrow - as
a victory for MS sufferers.
Shop
assistant Clare O’Donnell, 27, said: “It’s a victory for those who suffer from
MS and find using cannabis helps them.
“I went
to a talk at Aston University where a representative from the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society told us about the trials they had done with cannabis.
“They
found it helped people literally get out of their wheelchairs.
“They
test it on patients, not rats or mice, because the government generally agrees
cannabis itself is a safe drug.
“There
has been a lot of bad press recently about which MPs have tried the drug and if
cannabis causes mental illness, but people should only use it if it suits
them.”
Mrs
O’Donnell, of Chapel End, Nuneaton, added: “What the public have to realise is
the downgrading of cannabis has nothing to do with recreational use.
“It’s
about people who find cannabis has medical benefits, being allowed to have that
medicine made for them by the government.
“The
government has spent £1million researching the medical benefits of cannabis.”
Mrs
O’Donnell joined the Legalise Cannabis Alliance after seeing the drug help friends
with medical problems.
The
alliance wants cannabis to be not just decriminalised, but fully legalised.
Mrs
O’Donnell is the alliance’s candidate for a Parliamentary seat in either
Coventry or Warwickshire, at the next general election.
On
Wednesday, she will meet with Nuneaton MP Bill Olner, at the Houses of
Parliament, to discuss the government’s new policy on cannabis.
From
tomorrow, cannabis will be a class C, rather than a class B, drug, meaning
those found in possession of it will have it confiscated and receive a warning
from police.