London, United Kingdom: Members of Parliament rejected a motion last week that sought to immediately legalize the use of smoked cannabis for medical purposes. Fifty MPs had signed on in support of the motion, which would have rescheduled cannabis so that physicians could prescribe it.
“Let patients make their own informed decisions whether the risks from the only relief from their excruciating pain represents a greater threat to their health and well-being than the disease from which they suffer,” Labor MP Peter Bradley said. “Who are we, as politicians, to stand between people suffering torments that we cannot imagine and the medicines that they need to make their lives tolerable?”
Nevertheless, Parliament rejected the motion, calling it “wholly premature” to reschedule cannabis when pharmaceutically-produced cannabis extracts (trade name: Sativex) are presently being evaluated by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
In clinical trials, Sativex has been shown to alleviate pain and other symptoms associated with Multiple Scelrosis, and may play a role in slowing the disease’s progression. However, in May the MHRA requested additional clinical trial data on Sativex before they would make a determination on it’s safety or efficacy.
Junior Home Office Minister Caroline Flint said that she would schedule a meeting imminently with the British Under-Secretary of Health to investigate whether it would be possible to “fast-track” Sativex’s evaluation process . If the MHRA authorizes the use of cannabis extracts, Parliament is expected to follow suit and legalize Sativex as a prescription drug.
For more information, please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of the NORML Foundation at (202) 483-5500.