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UK: Cannabis rethink 'will not affect drug prescription'
The Telegraph
Saturday 19 Mar 2005 The move to reassess the dangers of cannabis will not affect the decision on whether to give the go-ahead to a prescription form of the drug, the Government has said. The medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency is currently deciding whether to give a UK licence to Sativex, a cannabis-based oral spray, which its makers claim eased pain in cancer sufferers in recent trials. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, has asked his independent advisors about introducing a higher classification for cannabis in the wake of emerging evidence about stronger forms of the drug and possible links to mental illness. David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, downgraded the drug from Class B to Class C - placing it alongside steroids and some prescription anti-depressants - in January last year. But a Home Office spokesman said today: "The review will not have any bearing on consideration of the application for a cannabis-based medicine. We are committed to reviewing that as quickly as possible." The reassurance came as a study suggested large numbers of doctors are unofficially advising their patients to try cannabis. According to the study, published this week in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, one in six people who use cannabis for medical reasons say it was suggested to them by their doctors. A future reclassification to Class B could see stiffer penalties for people claiming to use it for medicinal reasons. But mental health campaigners have welcomed Mr Clarke's move. Paul Corry, a spokesman for Rethink Severe Mental Illness, said: "At last the Government has woken up to the risk they have been running of a drug induced mental health crisis." "There is mounting evidence that cannabis dramatically increases the risk of developing schizophrenia in people where there is a family history of the illness, and significantly increases the risk even where there is no family history," he said. Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, said the group was "relieved" at Mr Clarke's action. She said: "Sane has campaigned for over 18 years to highlight the damaging effects of cannabis, particularly on young people at risk of mental illness. "Far from being a relatively harmless recreational drug, for vulnerable teenagers the innocent spliff, or chilling out, could trigger a journey of life-long disintegration."
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