CANNABIS LEGALISATION BILL BEFORE COMMONS

A Bill calling for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use was
coming before Parliament for its second reading today.

A cross-party group of MPs, including such well-known Commons names as
Tony Benn and Martin Bell, signed an early day motion yesterday
deploring the continuing criminalisation of the soft drug.

They demanded that doctors be allowed to prescribe it to people
suffering from chronic pain caused by multiple sclerosis, Aids and the
side effects of chemotherapy.

The change in the law has been recommended by a House of Lords science
select committee, which suggested a limited number of doctors should
be allowed to prescribe cannabis to named patients in the same way
that millions of other prescriptions are dispensed.

Among the signatories are Lib Dem deputy leader Alan Beith, Gavin
Strang Labour's former transport minister and the Tory eurosceptic
Teresa Gorman.

Former Labour minister Frank Field and Martin O'Neill, Labour chairman
of the Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, have also backed
the motion, as has veteran cannabis campaigner and Labour backbencher
Paul Flynn (Newport West).

Government whips are expected to object to the bill, said Mr Flynn.