Source: Times, The (UK)



Pubdate: March 31 1999





ubject: Anti-drugs chief backs 'medicinal' cannabis

By Richard Ford, Home Correspondent



THE medical use of cannabis won the backing of the

Government's chief anti-drugs campaigner yesterday.

Keith Hellawell, a former chief constable, said doctors

should be allowed to prescribe the class B drug to ease

pain and suffering, provided the beneficial effects were

proven by research. 



"There appear to be many qualities within the herb that are

likely to have an impact on different suffering," he told the

Commons Home Affairs Select Committee. 



Mr Hellawell, UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, recently

visited a farm where cannabis is being grown for medical

research under a special licence issued by the Home

Office. Five thousand plants have been sown in a secure

glasshouse in southern England. 



The Government allowed the trial because of increasing

evidence that cannabis could be useful as a painkiller and

in treating illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy. 



Mr Hellawell also told MPs that the popularity of cannabis

was declining among 15 to 25-year-olds because of its

widespread use, and that smoking heroin was frequently

the first choice of drug.