Hopeful news if you’re one of the estimated 1 million medicinal cannabis users in the UK: A group of MPs and peers is campaigning for medicinal weed to be legalized, allowing people who suffer from chronic pain and symptoms such as anxiety to grow a small amount of weed and have access to doctor-prescribed bud without the risk of being charged for possession.
If the campaign is successful, it would put the UK among 11 European countries and 24 US states where cannabis has been decriminalized for prescribed consumption.
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The campaign was put forward this Tuesday after the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform analyzed evidence from 623 patients, medical professionals, and legally savvy people with knowledge of cannabis regulation in other countries, and reached the conclusion that weed can, indeed, be helpful and therapeutic in many ways—and is actually not a terrifying nightmare drug. The group proposes that herbal cannabis be put in the same category as steroids and sedatives, meaning that it could be prescribed by doctors and dispensed by chemists.
The study—which analyzed more than 20,000 medical reports and was led by expert in rehabilitation medicine, Professor Mike Barnes—also showed that almost 70 percent of patients who currently use weed for the relief of symptoms, such as nausea after chemotherapy, tried conventional medication before going green.
The study also acknowledges that there are instances in which cannabis is still not proven to be the best option, such as in the treatment of depression and epilepsy. According to the report, regular use could lead to putting some people at risk of developing psychotic disorders, which doctors should be aware of when prescribing.
Even though the weed market has already become as corporate as any other in the US, most MPs already back the legalization of medicinal marijuana, and campaigners say cannabis is doing wonders for their ailments. In response, the Home Office said that it doesn’t plan to decriminalize the “harmful drug.”
Nice to know that the people in charge of making our laws are so receptive to the opinions of experts and don’t just, you know, continue to ignore all logic and common sense.
A child who uses medical cannabis, from our film ‘Stoned Kids‘
