The government should allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for medical use, concluded a report by United Kingdom’s House of Lords Science and Technology Committee last week. However, Health Minister George Howarth immediately rejected the findings, and said that Parliament will not change federal law until more research is completed.
“Political stalling at the expense of patients who would benefit from the legal use of marijuana as a medicine is not confined just to America,” said NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup, Esq.
Lord Walter Perry, chairman of the House of Lords committee, said ample evidence already exists to legalize medical marijuana. “[Clinical trials] take five or more years to complete and we felt that the evidence of the benefit to these patients with very distressing symptoms was such that we shouldn’t make them wait that long.” The report found marijuana to be most effective at treating chronic pain and the symptoms of multiple sclerosis.
“We have seen enough evidence to convince us that a doctor might legitimately want to prescribe cannabis … and that the criminal law ought not to stand in the way,” Perry said.
The report also noted that the development of marijuana derivatives and analogs as medicines should not preclude politicians from legalizing use of the whole plant for medical use.
“This committee should be commended for placing science and compassion above politics,” Stroup said. The upper chamber of Parliament first began its inquiry into the medical potential of marijuana in April.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Copies of the House of Lords report are available upon request on online at: http://www.parliament.uk/.