CANNABIS BILL SET TO FAIL

Ministers have been accused of "political cowardice" as a
backbencher's attempt to legalise the medicinal use of cannabis looks
certain to fail. Labour MP Paul Flynn, a chemist, told the Commons he
had tried three times to change the law to bring relief to sufferers
of chronic illnesses like Multiple Sclerosis.

He told MPs: "The response from ministers each time ... has had the
lingering scent of hypocrisy, callousness, indifference and political
cowardice." But at the end of his bill's second reading debate not
enough MPs actually voted to make any further progress on the bill
likely. Mr Flynn's bill was backed by eight MPs and voted down by
four, a total well below the required 40 MPs needed to make a vote
binding

Speaking during the debate Conservative MP Anne McIntosh spelt out
her opposition to Mr Flynn's proposal: "I am concerned that in
agreeing to this bill, we would give the wrong message to those who
seek to legalise cannabis for recreational purposes," she said.

While speaking for the government, Home Office Minister Barbara Roche
said: "It would be premature to amend the misuse of drugs legislation
to allow the prescribing of cannabis before the quality, safety and
efficacy of a medicinal form of the drug has been scientifically
established and a marketing authorisation issued by the medicines
control agency."

She added that the government was backed by the British Medical
Association and the Royal Society in its belief that raw cannabis
should not be legalised for medicinal use. But Mr Flynn mocked the
minister's claims that further trials were needed.

"The medicine of cannabis is the most ancient in the world. Trials
have been going on for 5,000 years for billions of people."

"It's the world's most ancient medicine. It was used by the people
that built the pyramids for their eye problems. It was used by Queen
Victoria for her menstrual cramps."

The drug was, he said, "less toxic than aspirin and has never
knowingly killed anyone".

But he said the serious issue at stake was the situation of thousands
of people who are illegally using it to treat conditions like the
nausea brought on by chemotherapy. That meant, he said: "The law is
in disrepute. The law is a joke."

Spelling out the terms of his bill he said it would "allow cannabis
in its natural state, to be provided by a limited number of doctors
in an unlicensed form to named patients just as heroin and cocaine
are prescribed legally now."

Fellow Welsh MP and former leader of Plaid Cymru, Dafydd Wigley, gave
the bill his backing. He told the House: "This is a matter of urgency
and it is something that cannot wait for another four or five years
for these tests to be concluded and then to be evaluated and then to
be acted upon."