CANNABIS: MP WANTS RESEARCH INTO MEDICINAL USE

Gibson calls for study on drugs.

A Norfolk MP has called on the Government to commission a road-based study
of drugs while questioning the evidence on which Home Secretary Jack Straw
continues to rule out legalising cannabis.

Dr. Ian Gibson says it is important that the Home Office does not 'stick
its head in the sand' but listens and responds to the debate.

In calling for a fresh look at the scientific evidence, the backbench
Labour MP for Norwich North is adding his voice to that of Conservative
David Prior.

The 43-year-old MP for North Norfolk recently called for more openness when
considering the drugs question after he admitted smoking cannabis until his
late 20's.

But the gulf between the two camps was highlighted last night when former
Home Office minister Ann Widdicome spoke to Tory Party members in the
Cromer heart of Mr Prior's constituency.

Miss Widdicombe accused Body Shop boss Anita Roddick of making a joke out
of drug-taking when the cosmetics guru handed out cannabis seeds at the
launch of a new beauty range called Hemp.

She said: "The law is that cannabis is illegal and it is illegal for
perfectly good reasons. It is not responsible to laugh at that in a major
marketing enterprise which is aimed at young people."

Mr Straw takes a firm view on illegal drugs, refusing to countenance
legalising cannabis even for medicinal use, though his department has
granted licences for researchers to experiment.

But writing in today's EDP, Dr Gibson says: "An in-depth look at the
scientific evidence demonstrates that the certainties on which Mr Straw
bases his argument, and the Government's position, are difficult to
support."

The drugs debate, he points out, has become "polarised" and requires the
rigour of a commission established by the Government to review the
scientific evidence - especially in connection with cannabis's alleged
health-promoting properties.

Dr Gibson compares the taking of cannabis with the consumption of alcohol.

And he writes: "Most people in society have learned to use a
potentially-dangerous substance, which shares certain negative effects with
cannabis, in measures which are both tolerable and in some ways
efficacious."

"There is a strong case for treating the smoking of cannabis in much the
same way as we treat the consumption of alcohol."

Dr Gibson says he remains four-square behind current drug laws: "I believe
that the current Government's position in regard of drug is the correct one
but as we learn more then our views should evolve. If, for example,
evidence came out that cannabis would be clearly advantageous as a medicine
then it would seem to be illogical to
ignore such evidence."