Category: Politics

Comment: Police do not give cannabis users tacit approval

The Editor

By Edouard-Henri Desforges, UK Cannabis Social Clubs Deputy Vice Chairman The police have been accused by Conservatives of giving ‘tacit approval’ to collectives like the UKCSC. Our modern constabulary are mostly involved in ‘responsive policing’ – maybe cannabis users simply do not merit citizens reporting the crime? Possession of medical cannabis is a victimless crime anyway! There is hardly tacit approval, given the police arrest people and stay silent on the subject usually until they are ex-coppers, and then say they don’t have the resources to police something that is…

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Anti-prohibition police commissioners targeted by Conservatives

The Editor

The Daily Telegraph has run an article saying that “police have been accused of giving tacit support to ‘cannabis clubs’ where paying members can meet and take the drug without fear of prosecution”. Claiming that “police leaders have been rebuked by the Government”, the paper quotes a Home Office spokesman who says: “The trade and possession of recreational cannabis is illegal in the UK, regardless of where you use it,” said the spokesman. “Scientific and medical evidence is clear that recreational cannabis use can cause harm to individuals and society.…

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Jumping through the hoops: how to apply for medicinal cannabis

The Editor

In his latest vlog, friend of UKCSC Ian Frizell has provided a detailed explanation of the the process of applying for a prescription of medicinal cannabis, a new possibility in the UK after the government announced that some cannabis-derived medicine would be redefined and moved into Schedule 2 so that doctors could prescribe it for their patients. Ian believes that while this is “a step in the right direction” because the government has been forced to admit publicly that cannabis has medicinal value, “the reality is that it is still…

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UK Medicinal Cannabis: Still A Long Way To Go

The Editor

Recommendations by a rushed ‘review of reviews’ by Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, regarding medicinal cannabis are being implemented by the Home Office, meaning certain ‘cannabis-derived’ medications will be reclassified and doctors will be permitted to prescribe them. Stuart Harper looks at the limits imposed by this small progressive move. The purpose of Davies’s review was to look at the scheduling of cannabis within the UK, cannabis currently being a schedule 1 substance, with the aim of downgrading its classification if the evidence supported such a…

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Skunk #1 is used in Sativex: GW Pharmaceuticals’ Artificial Scarcity Revealed

The Editor

New Scientist magazine has visited the GW Pharmaceuticals to interview Dr David Potter at the UK’s only legal cannabis farm, providing some revealing insights to the world of monopolised cannabis. Journalist Amy Fleming starts the article by describing Potter tending to a “Skunk #1” plant, which is used in the production of Sativex, the first marijuana medicine to be approved for use in the UK. GW, where Potter is botanical director, sells the drug in 29 countries, making the UK the world-leading legal cannabis exporter. That’s right. Britain is the…

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