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UK: Cannabis oil row prompts legalisation call
BBC News Sunday 17 Jun 2018 MP Crispin Blunt, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on drug policy reform, said the existing law was "frankly absurd". The Home Office initially banned Billy Caldwell, 12, from taking cannabis oil but then reversed its decision. Billy's mother Charlotte has called for the oil to be freely available. According to Ms Caldwell, Billy is responding to the medication, which is used as an anti-epileptic. But speaking to BBC Breakfast she said: "I will not stand by and let any other family in our country endure this experience. It's horrific and cruel." Billy was given the oil at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital under a special 20-day licence. He is banned from taking the remedy at home. Ms Caldwell is calling for Billy to be given the remainder of his medication, and said she wants to meet Home Secretary Sajid Javid to discuss the issue on Monday. She says her son's seizures dramatically reduce when he takes the oil, which contains a substance called Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and is illegal in the UK. Last Monday officials at Heathrow airport confiscated Billy's supply which Ms Caldwell had tried to bring in from Canada and he was admitted to hospital after his seizures "intensified". Mr Javid later approved the use of cannabis oil after doctors made clear it was a medical emergency. The situation is under review. Dr Amir Englund, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, said an exemption should be made in Billy's case "so that he does not come to further harm". But UCL's Dr Michael Bloomfield said the use of medical marijuana is "far from straightforward". He said in some jurisdictions the drug's use for medical conditions is "a potential way of decriminalising cannabis through the back door". he Home Office's initial decision, and then its reversal, prompted calls for drug law reform from MPs on all sides. Mr Blunt, a Conservative, said the existing law was based on an "outdated" claim that cannabis had no medicinal value. "We need to get serious now about getting the benefits of these medicines, and move to change the frankly absurd position we are in," he said. Former Conservative Health Minister Dan Poulter said the current situation was "ridiculous" and he said he would push for an urgent change in the law. He said: "I genuinely don't understand why we see... medicinal cannabis through the prism of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs legislation, when actually this is a medical issue, it's not a prohibition of drugs issue, and that's what's got to change. In 2017, Billy was prescribed the medication on the NHS. But in May this year, his GP was told he could no longer prescribe it. At the time the Department of Health in Northern Ireland said cannabis had not yet been licensed in the UK as a medicine. Does cannabis have medicinal benefits? CBD and Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two types of cannabinoids found naturally in the resin of the marijuana plant. A cannabis-based drug called Sativex has been licensed in the UK to treat MS. It contains THC and CBD. Doctors could, in theory, prescribe it for other things outside of this licence, but at their own risk. MS patients prescribed Sativex, who resupply it to other people, also face prosecution. Another licensed treatment is Nabilone. It contains an artificial version of THC and can be given to cancer patients to help relieve nausea during chemotherapy. Source: NHS Choices https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44510224#
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