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HOME SECRETARY LAUNCHES
MEDICINAL CANNABIS REVIEW
THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDERTAKING A REVIEW of the
medicinal use of cannabis, home secretary Sajid Javid has
announced. The move follows headline stories about the
parents of two children with epilepsy – Alfie Dingley and
Billy Caldwell – being unable to legally access cannabis
oil-based medicines that can prevent seizures. In both
cases emergency licences have since been issued.
‘I have now come to the conclusion that it is time to
review the scheduling of cannabis,’ Javid told the House
of Commons. However, it was ‘absolutely clear’ that the
move was ‘in no way a first step to the legalisation of
cannabis for recreational use,’ he stated. ‘This
government has absolutely no plans to legalise
cannabis, and the penalties for unauthorised supply and
possession will remain unchanged.’
The first part of the review, overseen by chief medical
officer Professor Sally Davies, ha s already concluded that
‘there is evidence of therapeutic benefit for some
conditions’. The second part, to be carried out by the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), will
now assess whether cannabis-related medicinal
products should be rescheduled, with a decision likely to
be reached by the end of July.
‘There is clear evidence from highly respected and
trusted research institutions that some cannabis-based
medicinal products have therapeutic benefits for some
medical conditions,’ said Davies. ‘As schedule 1 drugs by
definition have little or no therapeutic potential, it is
therefore now clear that from a scientific point of view
keeping cannabis-based medicinal products in schedule
1 is very difficult to defend. Let me be emphatic – this
report does not look at recreational cannabis use and
does not endorse or condone recreational use. There is
well-established evidence on the potential harm of
recreational cannabis use.’
An expert panel – led by chief medical officer for
Northern Ireland, Dr Michael McBride – has also begun
accepting applications from clinicians to prescribe
cannabis-based medicines. Applications would be
‘considered and endorsed on the basis of best clinical
practice in order to ensure safe and appropriate care for
patients’, said McBride.
The announcement of a review followed an article in
STANDING IN
ADFAM POLICY AND COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Oliver Standing has been appointed the new
director of Collective Voice, and will replace Paul
Hayes in mid August. ‘I am delighted to welcome
Oliver to Collective Voice,’ said chair Karen Biggs.
‘He impressed the panel with his passion for the
work the sector does. The board is looking forward
to working with Oliver, building on the significant
achievements made over the last three years
under the expert leadership of Paul Hayes.’
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
the Telegraph by former
Conservative leader
William Hague that
called for a complete
overhaul of the ‘failed’
policy on cannabis –
including for recreational
use – and stating that
‘official intransigence is
now at odds with
common sense’. The
drugs policy lead for the
Police Federation of
England and Wales has
since also stated that
drug legislation is
‘outdated’ and
‘ineffective’. ‘The
proliferation of drugs in
this country is
unchecked and the
current situation is
fuelling an illicit trade in
not only drugs but
weapons and the
violence that comes with
it,’ said Simon Kempton.
simOn KemptOn ‘Although the police
service will continue to
uphold the laws passed by Parliament – a public debate is
needed on the future of drugs legislation, incorporating
health, education and enforcement programmes.’
Meanwhile, the Institute of Economic Affairs has
become the latest think tank to publish a report on the
potential financial benefits of legalising cannabis, with
its Joint venture document valuing the UK’s cannabis
black market at £2.6bn. Legalisation could raise £1bn a
year in tax revenues, it states, ‘before considering
savings to public services’. The report follows similar
documents from Health Poverty Action and the
Taxpayers’ Alliance (DDN, June, page 40.
Joint venture: estimating the size and potential of the
UK cannabis market at iea.org.uk
‘a public
debate is
needed on
the future
of drugs
legislation...’
Oliver
standing is
new director
of Collective
voice
SCANDALOUS
STATISTICS
NINE OUT OF TEN OF PEOPLE who died while
sleeping rough last year ‘needed support for
mental health, drug or alcohol problems’,
according to research by St Mungo’s. The
number of people sleeping rough in England
has risen by almost 170 per cent since the
start of the decade, and the charity has
written to the prime minister calling for
urgent action to prevent more people dying on
the streets and to ensure that all parts of the
public sector ‘play their part’.
‘This is nothing short of a national
scandal,’ said chief executive Howard Sinclair.
‘These deaths are premature and entirely
preventable.’ Dying on the streets: the case for
moving quickly to end rough sleeping at
www.mungos.org
BANGLADESH
BRUTALITY
NEARLY 200 NGOS HAVE WRITTEN TO UNODC
and INCB calling for urgent action to prevent
further deaths and human rights violations
‘in the name of drug control’ in Bangladesh.
More than 130 people have been killed and
13,000 arrested since prime minister Sheikh
Hasina launched a national anti-drugs
campaign in May. As is the case in the
Philippines, deaths are frequently justified as
the police acting in ‘self-defence’, say
activists. ‘As human rights abuses in the
name of a war on drugs are increasing every
day around Asia and are now seemingly the
“new normal”, it may have given false hope
for certain political leaders that they no
longer have to account for killing their own
poor and vulnerable citizens,’ said
coordinator of the Asian Network of People
who Use Drugs, Anand Chabungbam.
Open letter at idpc.net
BUOYANT BUYERS
COCAINE PURITY LEVELS IN EUROPE are at their
highest for a decade, according to the latest
EMCDDA annual report, with a ‘buoyant’
market and increased availability of the drug in
a number of countries. Wastewater analysis
revealed increased cocaine residues in 26 out
of 31 European cities, with those showing the
highest traces in Spain, the UK, Belgium and
the Netherlands.
NPS also remain a ‘considerable policy and
public health challenge’, says the agency, with
more than 50 reported to the EU’s early
warning system for the first time in 2017,
bringing the total that the EMCDDA is now
monitoring to more than 670.
European drug report 2018: trends and
developments at www.emcdda.europa.eu
July/August 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5