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UK: Medicinal cannabis campaigners 'closely linked' with recreational supporters

Paul Gallagher

news.co.uk

Wednesday 18 Mar 2020

Key figure in Billy Caldwell case also involved with group which lobbies for legalisation of marijuana for recreational use

Groups campaigning for wider access to cannabis for medical reasons and those pushing for the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use are closely linked, an investigation has uncovered.

By 2024, the UK’s medicinal cannabis market is predicted to be worth nearly £1.1bn, while the recreational market is estimated to be around £1.44bn.

The BMJ investigation highlights the high profile case of Billy Caldwell, a boy with severe epilepsy, who made headlines after his mother Charlotte flew to Canada to get cannabis oil for her son, which was seized at customs on her return.

Steve Moore, former CEO of David Cameron’s Big Society initiative, helped to organise Charlotte Caldwell’s trip and promote her cause. But Mr Moore’s interest in cannabis is not limited to the drug’s medicinal use, according to the BMJ.

Law change

Mr Moore is strategic counsel for the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis, an industry body for businesses and investors in cannabis medicinal products, and co-founder and strategic counsel of Volteface, an advocacy group set up in 2017 to lobby for legalisation of cannabis for recreational use. He is also strategic counsel for another trade body, the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis, whose members include the Canadian based Supreme Cannabis Company, which has invested in several cannabis brands in Canada and Europe.

Mr Moore declined to comment on whether his engagement with the Caldwell case was part of a conscious effort to normalise the conversation around cannabis, in keeping with Volteface’s agenda to see the recreational use of cannabis decriminalised.

But he told the BMJ: “Decriminalisation in and of itself would not financially benefit any legal licensed cannabis companies and there is little indication that the government is considering any such reform.”

Ian Gilmore, director of the Liverpool Centre for Alcohol Research and chair of Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said: “We must not drift into the situation we found ourselves in with tobacco and alcohol, where global companies seeking to maximise their markets distorted the arguments, often through third parties. We must protect patients from having groups with conflicts of interest building up unrealistic hopes.”

https://inews.co.uk/news/health/medicinal-cannabis-recreational-smoking-links-bmj-2498973?amp&fbclid=IwAR1Ux-ZNvaGc1z4HSrBCHr-O8lT1vJaTTnbeYLUKG_lDOCGJVQQVe_ObBZE

 

 

 

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