THERAPEUTIC USE OF CANNABIS

Early day motion 557, tabled 22 March 2000 by Austin Mitchell (Labour). Signed by 53 members.

That this House, recognising that decriminalising marijuana possession is on the agenda and likely to become, with the Police Foundation report, an issue which will precipitate emotive public debate urges Her Majesty's Government to take the question of the therapeutic use of marijuana for the treatment of medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis, Aids, arthritis and the relief of severe pain, out of this debate entirely so as to ensure that sufferers are not forced onto the streets to purchase illegal drugs or face an omnipresent threat of prosecution which puts the sick and dying on the frontline of the war against drugs, but that instead, recognising the opinion of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology that marijuana has therapeutic value as well as the overwhelming volume of evidence about its benefits which is now emerging, should follow the suggestions of the Lords' Select Committee, accelerate the research which will legitimise prescription of marijuana for treatment on a named patient basis, but in the meantime, to prevent the law being brought into disrepute and juries being faced with agonising choices about jailing MS victims suggests that the police be instructed not to prosecute victims of these diseases and conditions who grow or purchase marijuana for their own exclusive use with the written support of their doctor, so that with the issue of medical use taken out of the debate, the wider decisions on marijuana can be taken on a rational and considered basis.

Signatures by party: Labour 39, Liberal Democrat 12, Plaid Cymru 2.