Subj: UK: Sco: Doctors back legalising cannabis



Date: 21 June 1999



Source: Scotsman, The  (UK)





Doctors back legalising cannabis  

TIM WINKLER  



THE recreational smoking of cannabis should be legalised, 

according to an influential group of Scottish doctors.



While medics have frequently supported the use of cannabis 

for medicinal purposes, the British Medical Association's 

committee for public health medicine and community health 

has advocated legalisation for recreational use, to sever 

the link between pot and hard drugs.



Dr George Venters, the committee's chairman, said yesterday 

that young people are encouraged to see cannabis in the same 

light as more dangerous drugs like cocaine and heroin 

because of its illegal status.



He said: "Legally it is in the same boat as heroin and 

cocaine and that's entirely anomalous. Cannabis has been 

around a long time. It's not addictive, it's not in the same 

league as these other drugs."



Dr Venters, a consultant in public health medicine with 

Lanarkshire Health, said that cannabis was less dangerous 

than legal drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes.



"Alcohol is a damn site more toxic a substance than the 

cannabinoids [cannabis derivatives]. If we want to be 

listened to about drugs we cannot talka lot of nonsense. 

Young people know exactly what is going on."



The committee will bring a motion advocating 

decriminalisation of cannabis to next month's BMA annual 

conference, but have little hope of the motion being 

endorsed.



A fortnight ago, the group's views failed to gain support at 

the annual national meeting of public health doctors.



Dr Venters said: "As a committee, we just realised that it 

is very likely cannabis will be used as a medicinal drug and 

it is an anomaly to prohibit it. It should at least be 

discussed by the medical profession. It's like the 

fluoridation of water. It's got political overtones to it, 

but it should be discussed."



Drug agencies have rejected the call, saying 

decriminalisation could lead young people closer to hard 

drugs.



Alistair Ramsay, the director of Scotland Against Drugs, 

said a House of Lords select committee had investigated the 

legal status of cannabis last year and found no reason to 

decriminalise or legalise the drug.



He said: "It would seem to me we would be unable to ignore 

that kind of evidence. Cannabis can be a gateway to a drugs 

career. There are certainly a significant number of people 

whose health has been compromised by drugs who started on 

cannabis and graduated on to progressively harder drugs."



In the Netherlands, where cannabis had been decriminalised, 

researchers had found that youths had bypassed the drug, 

going straight on to amphetamines, Mr Ramsay said.



"We have to be very careful about the legal status of all 

drugs and not just concentrate on the legal status of one. 

Generally, I think the public would not support legalisation 

of cannabis, anyway."



However, Dr Venters' committee is not without friends in the 

debate. In April 1997, Richard Branson, the Virgin 

businessman and Sir Paul McCartney were among 100 

psychiatrists, doctors and celebrities to sign a petition 

calling for the legalisation of cannabis.



In April this year, Pat Chalmers, an Aberdeenshire 

councillor and the convener of Grampian Police Board, also 

advocated decriminalisation, saying the anti-drugs message 

was devalued by attempts to demonise cannabis.



The BMA voted to support the use of cannabinoids in 1997, 

but only for medicinal uses. It decided not to support 

complete decriminalisation of cannabis because of the 

harmful effects of smoking the drug, including an increased 

risk of heart disease and bronchitis.



Cannabis has been used to relieve pain for thousands of 

years and has been demonstrated to help sufferers of 

illnesses such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.



The Government authorised the first official medical trials 

of cannabis last year, granting GW Pharmaceuticals 

permission to grow cannabis and administer it in clinical 

trials.



The research company constructed a UKP4 million greenhouse at 

a secret location to grow a crop of highly potent, seedless 

sinsemilla plants to produce the cannabis and has begun 

clinical trials at Hammersmith Hospital in west London and 

Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.



At Hammersmith, 300 patients will be given cannabis through 

specially designed oral inhalers to treat post-operative 

pain, while 600 multiple sclerosis sufferers will be treated 

with the drug at Plymouth.



If the trials are successful they could pave the way for 

cannabis to be legalised for medicinal prescriptions.



A Home Office spokeswoman said that four research groups, 

including GW Pharmaceuticals, held UK licences to research 

the therapeutic uses of cannabis, but the Government 

believed recreational use should remain illegal.