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UK: It's pointless to legalise medicinal cannabis if we don't opt for full decriminalisation
Ian Hamilton
iNews
Thursday 21 Jun 2018
It takes a very human story to nudge politicians into rethinking drugs policy. Charlotte Caldwell has achieved such a move by highlighting the benefits of cannabis oil for her son Billy who has a severe form of epilepsy. In response Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, has promised to set up a commission which will consider the “evidence available for the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of cannabis-based medicines”. If recent polling is an accurate barometer of public opinion 75 per cent of people in a recent YouGov survey support a move to allow access to cannabis based products for medicinal use. So such a change in legislation appears to carry little political risk. The greater risk of such a policy change is giving false hope to those who think that cannabis will be the answer to their health problems. Health benefits Many people say that cannabis has improved their health, with claims including cancer tumours shrinking and pain subsiding, for example. Compelling as these personal testimonies are the scientific evidence supporting such claims are at best weak or relate to rare medical conditions. There is also a mismatch between the medical grade cannabis used in research and the “street” cannabis that people claim has improved their health condition. It takes a very human story to nudge politicians into rethinking drugs policy Paradoxically, the evidence that the Home Secretary hopes will inform the review into the medicinal benefits of cannabis has in the United Kingdom and many other countries been hampered by the legacy of restricting research into the drug. The UK has been left behind in the evolving world of cannabis research. This could change if the commissioned review recommends making access to cannabis for research an easier process. Some have argued that we shouldn’t conflate the debate about medicinal cannabis with the one about decriminalising recreational use. But there are compelling health reasons to consider both aspects in this new review. The Home Secretary has firmly ruled out William Hague’s call to go further and regulate cannabis for recreational use. The government’s justification for restricting the review to the medicinal benefits of cannabis is that there is evidence of harm to health from using cannabis recreationally. I agree there are harms to health including dependency, psychosis, heart and lung problems. Risky business If the intention of this review is to improve health, maintaining the current policy on cannabis for recreational use will fail to achieve this goal and if anything will contribute to the health risks for users of cannabis. Under prohibition the potency of cannabis has increased leaving many people with no choice about the strength of cannabis they are exposed to. Regulating cannabis would provide choice of strength in the same way we have a choice between beer and vodka. Regulation would also help decouple tobacco from cannabis as users wouldn’t need to include tobacco in a joint for the cannabis to be combusted. They would have the choice of consuming cannabis as an edible or vaping rather than smoking. If this review removes cannabis from a list of prohibited drugs that includes heroin and cocaine that will help the law on drugs look more credible. A credible law is more likely to be respected and serve its ambition to protect the people it covers. Ian Hamilton is a lecturer in mental health in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/comment/its-pointless-to-legalise-medicinal-cannabis-if-we-dont-fully-decriminalise-the-drug/
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