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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: A Medical Marijuana User in Notts Ali Taylor Leftlion issue 162 Tuesday 01 Aug 2023 There are massive problems with the prescription system. It's still only basically available on private prescription, which is cheaper than illicit, but tiered. The most exclusive strains cost around three times that of the cheapest. There are various schemes for those on low incomes that can help towards cost, though if you are provided a chemovar that treats your symptoms, then can’t obtain it for several months, that’s not therapeutic. Stressful, harmful, frustrating, yes. Even though the UK is the world's biggest exporter of cannabis, the private prescription chemovars are inexplicably imported from various countries around the world, and stock shortages are constant. Medications aren’t used interchangeably, serving different purposes, with different mechanisms and compositions. So why would differing chemovars of cannabis, with vastly differing genetics, cannabinoid and terpene profiles be? There was uproar when there were lengthy stock delays in Hormone Replacement Therapy, and rightly so, but nobody even knows when this happens with cannabis. My understanding is that the given reason for it still only being primarily available on private prescription is lack of clinical evidence as to efficacy, but we're told no one is commissioning any. This, despite America having outsourced its research to Israel for 50 years (and who are now the world leader in all things cannabis). We are denying international and anecdotal evidence that is decades long. Pharmaceutical medications are often prescribed by the NHS off label (i.e. for a different purpose for that usually prescribed, hence researched), so why isn’t cannabis? Why such a heavy burden of proof for the efficacy and safety of something in the absence of proof that those things were actually in doubt? It was historically used medicinally in Britain, apparently very effectively, for many conditions. The MacMillan government actually fought the imposition of schedule one based on antibiotics alone in the 50's. During Nixon's time as President of the United States of America, audiotapes were taken of his conversations there, and later released, with him admitting that drug laws were about social control. This was later confirmed by John Ehrlichman to Rolling Stone Magazine in the 90's. Joe Biden acknowledged that marijuana was banned for racist reasons. Something easily verifiable by reading document WHO/APD/56 which underpins cannabis prohibition globally.He decreed that those held on cannabis charges should be released, with measures being taken to alter laws accordingly on a Federal level. As the UK essentially followed Nixon’s lead with the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971), why is this not acknowledged? Denial of evidence creates and causes systemic problems. We are globally learning every day about the therapeutic components like terpenes and cannabinoids, as well as how to mitigate potential risk. Some people don’t react well to high THC strains, or those too heavy on traditional sativa-associated properties, but certain pharmaceutical medications don’t agree with many of us either. In British and American medicine, we are very much of the 'band-aid model'. We wait for something to go wrong, then we treat it with something else that generally causes something else to go wrong. I’m not against pharmaceutical interventions or those such as chemotherapy, but few would argue that the side effects can be relatively minor or life-changingly huge. The preference for synthetic, often more harmful equivalents bewilders me (without known long term effects). The fact is, the down sides of cannabis are relatively minor (unless I’ve got my levels wrong or I’m on the wrong strain, dry mouth is literally the worst I experience), and the withdrawal is from what I can gather, a return of what you experienced before you started consuming it. I don’t know anyone who has struggled hugely with cannabis withdrawal when it’s arisen. Nobody has ever overdosed from cannabis, yet so many medications carry this risk. Prevention is also important in the sense that I’d argue that this applies to a large portion of what would be considered the recreational market, and therefore, those who are currently being punished for essentially having nothing wrong with them. They might be consuming cannabis simply because it makes them feel good. I certainly fail to see what’s wrong with that. They have cannabinoid receptors within their own endocannabinoid system, something we have known about since the 1990s (and surely reason enough alone for a reevaluation). So isn't this potentially preventative and therefore a good thing? And still there are regular anti-cannabis pieces from local and national media outlets misrepresenting facts. Articles explaining how to ‘Grass Up Your Neighbour’ are fairly common. They’re oversimplified, put cannabis consumers at risk of persecution and rarely mention prescriptions. It’s nigh impossible to get a response from editors to discuss these issues, and so nothing changes. I think that although it needs to be legal for everyone, with the right to grow, there does have to be a prescription system in place. Too many people will simply not be able to afford their medicine otherwise (and would be paying no more than NHS prescription charge if it was pharmaceutical). Many of us on prescription privately have to make sacrifices in terms of quality of life in order to do so. These are neither small nor sustainable. There needs to be dispensaries and coffee shops where people can buy small amounts before committing to a chemovar, something denied in the current prescription system. There is a place for it being a part of the medical system, just not exclusively so. Doctor's do need better education and the almost total lack of prescribing specialists in certain areas needs addressing though. I do think people can make a difference by making their views known to their constituency MP, as well as encouraging discussion with others. Neither The Labour Party nor The Conservative Party support decriminalization but I do think that the more constituents invested in a subject, the greater the likelihood of it being raised in Parliament. I run a website called Ali Pink and Green, which is designed to give basic and honest information about the prescription system, our current drug laws and other things cannabis-related. I also recommend Seed Our Future and Cannabis Campaigners Guide if you'd like to learn more. https://leftlion.co.uk/features/2023/08/leftlion-magazine-162/#!
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