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Law United Kingdom

Baron23

Well-Known Member
I'm posting this because this story just pisses me off royally and I personally think that the asshole members of government who are responsible for this monstrous situation should be tarred and feathered. Well, actually since it is the UK, they should be drawn by horses and quartered. If I was this kid's parent, I'm afraid of what I might do in this situation. And like politicians everywhere....they only get outraged and into action after the fucking fact. Nothing like leading from behind, eh? Assholes all of them...flapping their jaws, covering their ass, while this kid is having seizures yet again.


MPs condemn UK cannabis laws after epileptic boy's medication seized
Urgent reform called for after government denies Billy Caldwell access to treatment

MPs have criticised the UK’s cannabis laws and called for urgent reform after a boy had his first epileptic seizure in 300 days because the government had ordered his doctor to stop prescribing him potentially life-saving cannabis oil.

Charlotte Caldwell, whose son Billy, 12, has scores of seizures every day without cannabis oil, had his medicine confiscated from her by customs agents at Heathrow on Monday.

Caldwell was not cautioned for trying to “openly smuggle” the substance into the UK from Canada, but was instead invited to the Home Office to meet the minister of state, Nick Hurd, who told her it would not be returned.

The move provoked widespread criticism, and a new all-party parliamentary group including the Tory MP Dan Poulter and the former justice minister Mike Penning has restated a recent pledge to make policy recommendations to help remedy the situation as soon as possible.

They are among an increasingly vocal group of MPs from across the political spectrum who support the legalisation of medicinal cannabis.

Crispin Blunt, a former prisons minister and co-chair of the all-parliamentary group on drug policy reform, said: Billy Caldwell is one child out of many hundreds, as well as many thousands of adults, who would benefit from cannabis derived medicines in the UK.

“We already happily accept the medicinal value of other plants such as poppies which can be used to create effective opioid painkillers and morphine as well as heroin. 75% of the British public support medical cannabis and the UK is ironically the world’s largest producer and exporter of legal cannabis.

“It is inconceivable that the Home Office continues to deny the medicines that Alfie and countless other patients so desperately need yet can access in many other countries including Canada, the United States and several EU states.

“A simple statutory instrument in Parliament will allow families out of the current absurd position of having to either expatriate themselves, or obtain cannabis illegally and face a prison sentence for caring for their own.”

Poulter, who works part time as an NHS mental health doctor, said there was increasingly strong medical evidence that medicinal cannabis improved the lives of people with several conditions, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and patients undergoing chemotherapy who were suffering from nausea.

“When there is growing evidence of the benefits of prescribing medicinal cannabis then it seems extraordinary that we can’t do so,” he said. “The legitimate medical needs of patients are being seen through the prism of drugs legislation from 1971. That can’t be right, sensible or humane.

“As a doctor, I can prescribe opioids and benzodiazepines to my patients, (which are illegal as street drugs) but thanks to the current law, I am unable to prescribe medicinal cannabis products to the patients who need them, despite an increasingly compelling medical case to allow me to do so.

“The law needs to change, which is why I am working with other doctors in the Parliament across all parties to present evidence to Government and to ensure that patients who can benefit from medically prescribed cannabis will be able to do so in the future.”

The government’s position is that cannabis has no medical benefit, despite a mounting body of evidence to the contrary. A doctor in Northern Ireland prescribed Caldwell cannabis oil last year, which stopped his life-threatening seizures, but the Home Office recently ordered him to stop doing so.

“This case highlights the need for urgent legislative reform to deal with medicinal cannabis were it is legally recommended,” said Órfhlaith Begley, the MP for West Tyrone, which includes Castlederg where the Caldwells live.

The MP, who was elected in a byelection in May, said she understood Caldwell had acted out of her love for her child and her desire not to see him return to enduring life-threatening seizures.

“Charlotte told me this morning that Billy had a seizure on Monday night which is heartbreaking,” she said. “I do not support breaking the law, but I can appreciate the difficult actions Charlotte has had to take as a mother.”

There is no cure for childhood epilepsy, but various treatments can improve sufferers’ quality of life and make their seizures less frequent. The NHS prescribes anti-epilepsy drugs but they commonly cause uncontrollable tremors, hair loss, swollen gums and rashes.

Studies have shown that cannabis-based anti-epilepsy medication can have a transformative effect on people who live with the condition. It is prescribed elsewhere in the world, including Canada, where Caldwell obtained a six-month supply for her son.

“Billy had a seizure this morning,” Caldwell told the Guardian. “It’s proven to me that, on the first day since his anti-epileptic medication was confiscated, it’s having a detrimental effect on him. The consequences inevitably for Billy will not be good. He’s heading towards a crisis situation.

“Without that anti-epileptic medication my little boy will die. That is the situation we are in. Nick Hurd, who planned the confiscation of my son’s life-saving medication, has signed Billy’s death warrant.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office is sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with. Whilst we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, Border Force has a duty to stop banned substances from entering the UK.”
 
I'm posting this because this story just pisses me off royally and I personally think that the asshole members of government who are responsible for this monstrous situation should be tarred and feathered. Well, actually since it is the UK, they should be drawn by horses and quartered. If I was this kid's parent, I'm afraid of what I might do in this situation. And like politicians everywhere....they only get outraged and into action after the fucking fact. Nothing like leading from behind, eh? Assholes all of them...flapping their jaws, covering their ass, while this kid is having seizures yet again.


MPs condemn UK cannabis laws after epileptic boy's medication seized
Urgent reform called for after government denies Billy Caldwell access to treatment

MPs have criticised the UK’s cannabis laws and called for urgent reform after a boy had his first epileptic seizure in 300 days because the government had ordered his doctor to stop prescribing him potentially life-saving cannabis oil.

Charlotte Caldwell, whose son Billy, 12, has scores of seizures every day without cannabis oil, had his medicine confiscated from her by customs agents at Heathrow on Monday.

Caldwell was not cautioned for trying to “openly smuggle” the substance into the UK from Canada, but was instead invited to the Home Office to meet the minister of state, Nick Hurd, who told her it would not be returned.

The move provoked widespread criticism, and a new all-party parliamentary group including the Tory MP Dan Poulter and the former justice minister Mike Penning has restated a recent pledge to make policy recommendations to help remedy the situation as soon as possible.

They are among an increasingly vocal group of MPs from across the political spectrum who support the legalisation of medicinal cannabis.

Crispin Blunt, a former prisons minister and co-chair of the all-parliamentary group on drug policy reform, said: Billy Caldwell is one child out of many hundreds, as well as many thousands of adults, who would benefit from cannabis derived medicines in the UK.

“We already happily accept the medicinal value of other plants such as poppies which can be used to create effective opioid painkillers and morphine as well as heroin. 75% of the British public support medical cannabis and the UK is ironically the world’s largest producer and exporter of legal cannabis.

“It is inconceivable that the Home Office continues to deny the medicines that Alfie and countless other patients so desperately need yet can access in many other countries including Canada, the United States and several EU states.

“A simple statutory instrument in Parliament will allow families out of the current absurd position of having to either expatriate themselves, or obtain cannabis illegally and face a prison sentence for caring for their own.”

Poulter, who works part time as an NHS mental health doctor, said there was increasingly strong medical evidence that medicinal cannabis improved the lives of people with several conditions, including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and patients undergoing chemotherapy who were suffering from nausea.

“When there is growing evidence of the benefits of prescribing medicinal cannabis then it seems extraordinary that we can’t do so,” he said. “The legitimate medical needs of patients are being seen through the prism of drugs legislation from 1971. That can’t be right, sensible or humane.

“As a doctor, I can prescribe opioids and benzodiazepines to my patients, (which are illegal as street drugs) but thanks to the current law, I am unable to prescribe medicinal cannabis products to the patients who need them, despite an increasingly compelling medical case to allow me to do so.

“The law needs to change, which is why I am working with other doctors in the Parliament across all parties to present evidence to Government and to ensure that patients who can benefit from medically prescribed cannabis will be able to do so in the future.”

The government’s position is that cannabis has no medical benefit, despite a mounting body of evidence to the contrary. A doctor in Northern Ireland prescribed Caldwell cannabis oil last year, which stopped his life-threatening seizures, but the Home Office recently ordered him to stop doing so.

“This case highlights the need for urgent legislative reform to deal with medicinal cannabis were it is legally recommended,” said Órfhlaith Begley, the MP for West Tyrone, which includes Castlederg where the Caldwells live.

The MP, who was elected in a byelection in May, said she understood Caldwell had acted out of her love for her child and her desire not to see him return to enduring life-threatening seizures.

“Charlotte told me this morning that Billy had a seizure on Monday night which is heartbreaking,” she said. “I do not support breaking the law, but I can appreciate the difficult actions Charlotte has had to take as a mother.”

There is no cure for childhood epilepsy, but various treatments can improve sufferers’ quality of life and make their seizures less frequent. The NHS prescribes anti-epilepsy drugs but they commonly cause uncontrollable tremors, hair loss, swollen gums and rashes.

Studies have shown that cannabis-based anti-epilepsy medication can have a transformative effect on people who live with the condition. It is prescribed elsewhere in the world, including Canada, where Caldwell obtained a six-month supply for her son.

“Billy had a seizure this morning,” Caldwell told the Guardian. “It’s proven to me that, on the first day since his anti-epileptic medication was confiscated, it’s having a detrimental effect on him. The consequences inevitably for Billy will not be good. He’s heading towards a crisis situation.

“Without that anti-epileptic medication my little boy will die. That is the situation we are in. Nick Hurd, who planned the confiscation of my son’s life-saving medication, has signed Billy’s death warrant.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Office is sympathetic to the difficult and rare situation that Billy and his family are faced with. Whilst we recognise that people with debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms, Border Force has a duty to stop banned substances from entering the UK.”


This should outrage any civilized person....of course, that leaves out professional politicians whose very species is subject to question, IMO. Bloody wankers, all of them.

This is simply despicable.


12-Year-Old With Epilepsy Hospitalized After Four Days of Being Deprived of CBD Oil
In the four days since border officials took away his medication, Billy Caldwell’s condition has become critical.


12-year-old-with-epilepsy-hospitalized-after-four-days-being-deprived-cbd-oil-hero.jpg

Courtesy of Charlotte Caldwell/ Facebook
Paramedics have rushed young Billy Caldwell to the hospital after the boy suffered a series of epileptic seizures. British media is reporting that rescue medications failed to bring 12-year-old Billy out of “a massive intractable epileptic seizure.”

First responders transported Billy to St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington on Thursday night. He is now unconscious and fighting for his life at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

The U.K. government has the medicine that could save his life, but won’t give it to the sick boy.

“My son is dying. They are letting him die,” said Billy’s mother Charlotte Caldwell. “The only thing that can save him, his anti-epileptic medication, is sitting on a desk in the Home Office out of our reach.”


Since 2016, Billy has used a cannabis oil medicine known as Tilray to treat his severe epilepsy. The main active ingredient of the medication is CBD. But it also has enough THC to make it a Schedule 1 controlled substance in the U.K. Billy began his treatment in the United States, and then became the first U.K. patient to receive a prescription for medicinal cannabis from the National Health Service last year.

However, last month the British government ended those prescriptions. So, with just one dose of Billy’s medicine left, he and Charlotte flew to Canada for help. Once there, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto replenished their supply of medicine.

Border Agents Took Boy’s Medicine at Airport
When Charlotte and Billy returned home to the U.K., border officials at Heathrow Airport confiscated the boy’s medicine. Despite Charlotte meeting with Home Office policing Minister Nick Hurd twice to plead Billy’s case, the government has failed to return Billy’s medication to him.


Although Billy had been doing quite well while taking his medicine, without it things quickly changed. Within hours of his first missed dose, Billy had his first seizure in months. A series of several more seizures followed.

When officials confiscated Billy’s medicine at the airport, Charlotte vowed defiance.

“I will just go back to Canada and get more and I will bring it back again because my son has a right to have his anti-epileptic medication in his country, in his own home,” she said.


But with Billy’s condition deteriorating so rapidly, Charlotte is now afraid that she and Billy have run out of options.

“This is beyond cruelty. We’ve now reached the point where Billy is too ill to travel to get his medication, but his medication is stored minutes away from where we’re now living in London,” said Charlotte Caldwell.

Charlotte praised the healthcare professionals who are treating Billy but is afraid that without his medicine, their efforts may be in vain. If that’s case, she made it clear who she will hold responsible.

“Despite the best and honest efforts of the NHS, frontline doctors are fighting Billy’s condition with both hands tied behind their back because the only medication that will be effective is the cannabis oil with CBD and THC. Those meds need to be released immediately. If Billy dies, which is looking increasingly possible, then the Home Office and Nick Hurd will be held completely accountable.”
 
More on the UK, CBD, and that poor suffering boy. Beyond belief that these asshats needed to be shamed into this as the cost of this boy and his mother's suffering. What....like they couldn't have investgated this without torturing this boy? Makes me pray that karma is real cause if it is its going to come down like a mofo on these shitheads.


Expert panel will be set up to advise on medicinal cannabis cases
A Home Office minister says the cases of Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley have prompted the government to look at the issue.

An expert panel of clinicians will be set up to advise the government on applications to prescribe cannabis-based medications.

Speaking in the Commons, Home Office minister Nick Hurd said the cases of Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley had "highlighted the need for the Government to explore the issue further and our handling of these issues further".

Mr Hurd told MPs he has asked chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies to begin work on the panel.

It comes after the mother of 12-year-old Billy, who has acute epilepsy, demanded a meeting with home secretary Sajid Javid and health secretary Jeremy Hunt over her son's case.

Charlotte Caldwell has been using the banned medication - which contains the psychoactive substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - to help manage Billy's condition since 2016.

Ms Caldwell, from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, said she was "over the moon" after Billy was given a 20-day supply of the drug on Sunday after the Home Office backed down on banning it.

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1:11
Video: 'Billy is improving this morning'
The 50-year-old said she wants to shine a "bright light on the pain and injustice suffered by thousands of children" with similar conditions.

She is demanding a meeting with Mr Javid and Mr Hunt to ensure that "no more medicine is confiscated".

Ms Caldwell was stopped at Heathrow Airport when she attempted to bring medicinal cannabis into the UK from Canada.

The drug was confiscated at customs. However, the Home Office later backed down on the ban and Billy began his treatment on Sunday.

Ms Caldwell said the 12-year-old had responded well to the treatment and is now at home after being treated in hospital.

"The fact Billy has now been discharged and is with me is testament to the effectiveness of the treatment and underlines just how vital it is that every child and every single family in our country affected is due to have immediate access to the same medication," she said.

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0:20
Video: Boy's cannabis refusal 'callous'
Ms Caldwell said the matters should be put under the remit of the Department of Health and not the Home Office.

"The Home Office may be good at conducting its core responsibilities, but it has neither the clinical understanding, nor the innate compassion required, to address matters relevant to children's medication policy," Ms Caldwell said.

She called for the Department of Health to "implement a programme that provides immediate access to the medication Billy so desperately needs."

Prime Minister Theresa May addressed Billy's case as she announced a boost in NHS funding, pouring cold water on the idea of a full-scale review of laws on medicinal cannabis.

She suggested the government will only look into how the current system of licences for use in individual cases operates, rather than looking at the law more widely.

"Do we need to look at these cases and consider what we've got in place? Yes," said Mrs May.

skynews-charlotte-caldwell_4337351.jpg

Image: Ms Caldwell has been using the banned medication to help manage Billy's condition since 2016
"But what needs to drive us in all these cases has to be what clinicians are saying about these issues.

"There's a very good reason why we've got a set of rules around cannabis and other drugs, because of the impact that they have on people's lives, and we must never forget that."

Labour's shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said the public was growing "increasingly dismayed" with the government's handling of the issue, and said nobody could use cannabis oil recreationally.

Fellow Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) said cannabis-based medicines should be given to everyone who needs them, citing two young children in her constituency who could benefit.

"The Government has a duty to protect these patients and sufferers. When will they act?" she asked.

And yet more on this subject, before we credit the UK Home Office with being actual empathetic human beings, those idiots only gave her one out of six or seven bottles of CBD she brought in. So, wtf is she supposed to do in 20 days? By the by, after getting that one bottle out of those skinflint assholes her boy responded immediately and was discharged from the hospital where he was in serious condition and is now home. How much proof do you need?


Billy Caldwell: Mother raises concerns that cannabis oil will only last 20 days

The mother of a 12-year-old boy with severe epilepsy has called for a meeting with the Home Secretary, after the government allowed just 20 days’ worth of his cannabis oil medication to be released to stop his seizures.

Billy Caldwell had just one of his seven bottles of cannabis oil medication returned by authorities on Saturday, after his condition dramatically worsened and he was hospitalised.

Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, said that he had used his “exceptional power as Home Secretary” to issue a licence for the drug’s use in Chelsea and Westminster hospital on Saturday afternoon.

However, of the six months’ supply of the drug it holds, the Home Office released enough oil for just 20 days.


Billy’s mother Charlotte Caldwell had pleaded publicly for the medication to be returned to her son, after it was confiscated in Heathrow airport on their return from Canada on Monday.

On Sunday morning, Ms Caldwell told BBC Breakfast that she wanted to meet Mr Javid and Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary, to demand the other six bottles and seek a change in the law to allow cannabis oil to be prescribed to children with intractable epilepsy.

“I’m asking him [Javid]: please return the other six bottles that Billy needs and let’s just stop this nonsense once and for all,” she said.


“I’d also say to Sajid that I applaud him, he has handed up a lifeline which is absolutely amazing and I am truly thankful for that.

“I...will not stand by and let any other family in our country endure this experience. It’s absolutely horrific, it’s cruel.

“I’m staying in London and I can assure him I’m not going anywhere until this is put in place and this medicine is made accessible to all of these other children that desperately need it.”

TELEMMGLPICT000166542728_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqySkuuxUK4LTxT1WX70dVCTscIxxVPcyo6nQo8OGWfGo.jpeg

Charlotte Caldwell gives a statement concerning her sick epileptic son Billy on Saturday afternoon Credit: Tim Anderson
Ms Caldwell said that she wanted to meet “preferably tomorrow” in a “dignified and democratic way” with the cabinet ministers to seek a resolution for her son.

The battle for Billy Caldwell's medication has quickly become a wider call for the legalisation of medical marijuana in the UK.

The oil used by Billy Caldwell is illegal in the UK because it contains THC, a psychoactive substance.

Under current laws, doctors who prescribe cannabis oil for epilepsy can be sentenced to up to 14 years in prison.

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Billy Caldwell and mother Charlotte arrive in Heathrow airport on Monday. Credit: David Dyson
In a statement on Sunday afternoon, Ms Caldwell said: "First, I need to be assured that Billy's medication will never again be taken away. He has 20 days worth of anti-epileptic seizure drugs. What happens after that? Another battle?”


"Secondly, there are many more families in similar positions: those affected need to be treated with greater attention to their medical needs. There is currently no proper medical assessment.

"Third, medical cannabis must be made accessible throughout the UK under the supervision of the Department of Health.

It is thought by doctors to alleviate symptoms of a number of conditions including multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and chronic pain.

While other marijuana products such as Cannabidiol, or CBD oil, are available from high street health retailers, products with a non-negligible THC content are prohibited under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.

Marijuana has been illegal in the United Kingdom since 1971.

The Home Office was contacted for comment.
 
Big news for uk cannabis laws...
After nearly killing an epileptic child by removing his cannabis meds, our shitty government had to give it back, or there would have been seroius consiquences to deal with from the public.
So now this has forced their hand into legalising for med use...
Otherwise they would look like the utter bastards they actually are..

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-44536978
 
And more on this travesty. NOW apparently they are giving this kid all of his CBD juice and a license to....have it/get more??

In any case, the only reason the government moved at all...particularly this jake of a Home Sec, Sajid Javid...is because they were publicly shamed into it. Otherwise the kid would be sucking hind tit.

Its just a shame that this kid had to be tortured for this to occur.



Home Secretary rules on Alfie Dingley cannabis oil appeal


alfie.jpeg


The mum of an epileptic Warwickshire youngster said she was 'overwhelmed' after it was announced her six-year-old son would be granted a licence to take cannabis oil.

Alfie Dingley's parents were due to travel from their Kenilworth home to lobby MPs tomorrow.

But Today Sajid Javid announced the youngster would be given access to the drug which it is hoped would prevent Alfie suffering up to 30 debilitating seizures a day.

His announcement in the House of Commons came as the government faced mounting pressure to chance the law on medicinal cannabis.

Mr Javid revealed at the same time a review would be carried out into the medicinal use of cannabis which could lead to patients in the UK being prescribed the drug.

Alfie's mum Hannah Deacon said she had been "overwhelmed" and moved to tears when she heard the Home Secretary's announcement.

She said she hoped the process of attempting to get a cannabis licence becomes easier for families, saying their experience had been "more akin to a pharmaceutical trial application" than a family trying to get help for their son.

JS73803787-Medium.jpg

Sajid Javid

She told the Press Association: "There are lots and lots of families up and down this country who are suffering with children with severe epilepsy where medication and diet doesn't work.

"I'm not saying that it should be the first line of medication - there are other protocols to try.

"But if those protocols don't work then medical cannabis surely, for the severely ill children, should be made available.

"It is just madness to think that people should be suffering like they are when there is something that could help them."

Speaking to the House of Commons, Mr Javid stressed that the class B drug would remain banned for recreational use.

Mr Javid told MPs that the review would be held in two parts.

The first, led by chief medical officer Sally Davies, will make recommendations on which cannabis-based medicines might offer patients real medical and therapeutic benefits.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs will consider in the second part of the review whether changes should be made to the classification of these products on an assessment of "the balance of harms and public health needs".

"If the review identifies significant medical benefits, then we do intend to reschedule," Mr Javid told MPs.

"We have seen in recent months that there is a pressing need to allow those who might benefit from cannabis-based medicines to access them."

Mr Javid said that since becoming Home Secretary in April, it had become clear to him that the current legal position on medicinal cannabis was "not satisfactory for the parents, not satisfactory for the doctors, and not satisfactory for me".

But he insisted: "This step is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.

"This Government has absolutely no plans to legalise cannabis and the penalties for unauthorised supply and possession will remain unchanged."

The announcement of the review came just days after Mr Javid intervened to permit the use of cannabis oil to treat severely epileptic 12-year-old Billy Caldwell, who had been admitted to hospital with seizures after supplies his mother had brought from Canada were confiscated at Heathrow.

Billy's mother Charlotte described it as "amazing news" which she "applauded".

She said: "Today, a few moments ago in the House of Commons, the government commissioned a full review of medicinal cannabis.

"While clearly largely positive, we still want to hear the detail from the mouths of the Home Secretary and the Health Secretary who was sitting next to him when he made the statement.

"At every stage of this campaign we have mentioned making history and we have mentioned it because it is commonsense.

"The power of the mothers and fathers of sick children has bust the political process wide open and it is on the verge of changing thousands of lives by bringing cannabis laws in line with many other countries.

"We are on the threshold of the next chapter of the history book."

JS65187490.jpg


Ms Caldwell said she wanted to meet with both the Home and Health Secretaries.

She said that in contrast to a week ago when she was still fighting for Billy to be treated with medicininal cannabis, a new meeting would be to "thank them for seeing and hearing sense and joining us in creating history in the United Kingdom."

Billy's case provoked widespread calls for a change in the law, with former Conservative leader Lord Hague urging ministers to consider full legalisation of the drug.

Mr Javid told MPs he had the "utmost sympathy" for the families of children like Billy and Alfie, who have travelled abroad to obtain cannabis-based treatments banned in the UK.

"As a father, I know there is nothing worse than seeing your child suffer," he said. "You would do anything to take away their pain.

"That is why I have the utmost sympathy for Billy Caldwell, Alfie Dingley and many others like them and for their parents, who have been under unimaginable stress and strain.

"I know that they are following a gut parental instinct to do whatever is in their power to try to alleviate the suffering of their child.

"I will do everything in my power to make sure that we have a system that works, so that these children and these parents can get access to the best possible medical treatment."

But NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens urged caution around the debate on legalising medicinal cannabis and cannabis for recreational purposes.

Speaking at a conference in London, he said: "I think it's very important as a country that we don't confuse this debate around specifically prescribable products for certain medical conditions with a much more generalised debate around the decriminalisation or legalisation of marijuana, without at the same time reminding ourselves that there are some genuine health risks there.

"In those countries where marijuana has been decriminalised, often young people, teenagers, come to think of smoking marijuana as safe. Whereas let's be clear, actually it isn't."

He warned of the risks of addiction to cannabis and long-term psychiatric problems such as depression and psychosis, as well as possible damage to lungs.

 
Big news for uk cannabis laws...
After nearly killing an epileptic child by removing his cannabis meds, our shitty government had to give it back, or there would have been seroius consiquences to deal with from the public.
So now this has forced their hand into legalising for med use...
Otherwise they would look like the utter bastards they actually are..

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-44536978
@Kellya86 when I go to FRANCE this NOV. I hope there is CBD oil? At least?
I might go the OXFORD UNION on the way home?
 
@Kellya86 when I go to FRANCE this NOV. I hope there is CBD oil? At least?
I might go the OXFORD UNION on the way home?

I would assume you will be stocked with magic ejuice for you trip anyway.. if not, you can order cbd crystals ect, from vapefiend with next day delivery..
If you make it the the uk id happily make sure you had things to vape..

@Baron23 i may be getting ahead of myself, but im hoping this is the beggining of my government finally yielding with their war on cannabis..
Maybe within a few years, people with insomnia and back pain will be allowed mmj.. then inevitably, recreational will follow...
Im not all too fussed about that part.. i just want it decriminalised so i dont risk being labled a criminal..
 
@Baron23 i may be getting ahead of myself, but im hoping this is the beggining of my government finally yielding with their war on cannabis..
Maybe within a few years, people with insomnia and back pain will be allowed mmj.. then inevitably, recreational will follow...
Im not all too fussed about that part.. i just want it decriminalised so i dont risk being labled a criminal..

I'm hoping on your behalf too, brother.
 
Can we all come? haha

That would be awesome.. a multinational vaporasylum meet up would be very cool..
Lets all have a holiday...


 
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This is why people are breaking the law to grow medical cannabis in the UK
(https://www.newstatesman.com)

Britain is the largest exporter of medical cannabis – so why is it still illegal to grow for use?


BY JENN SELBY

The UK is the largest exporter of medicinal cannabis in the world, and yet under current legislation, it is illegal in Britain for cannabis to be supplied to ease the symptoms of chronic illnesses – such as cancer, diabetes, HIV and Crohn’s disease – or for it to be prescribed by a doctor.

The recent plight of Billy Caldwell, a 12-year-old boy with severe epilepsy, whose seizures appeared to be lessened by the use of cannabis oil, has shone new light on this disparity. After a high profile media campaign, the Home Office intervened to offer Caldwell a 20-day license to use the oil. It also announced a review into the law regarding the prescription of medicinal cannabis.

This has led many to question why the drug is still illegal in the first place. Theories range from Home Office resistance to issue official licensing to all but one company, GW Pharmaceuticals, for the development of new products to the stigma and dangers attached to recreational use.

It is estimated that over a million people in the UK rely on the use of medical marijuana for an abundance of reasons, be it for pain relief as part of palliative care or to reduce involuntary shaking for those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease. In reality, that figure is probably a lot higher. Measuring anything is difficult when use is entirely unregulated.

Often with no option other than to use debilitating opiates like diamorphine (otherwise known as heroin, which is legal to prescribe) and a cocktail of pharmaceutical medication with unpleasant side-effects, those in desperate need are being forced to turn to the black market to buy products of dubious origins on the internet or deal with criminal operations on the streets to get what they need.

Those who are able could also risk potential jail time by growing their own, or turn to clandestine operations to shoulder any illegal activities for them.

Gareth*, a professional in his 40s, has been growing medicinal cannabis for more than 20 years to deal with the effects of his own chronic illness. At the moment, he’s using large, black control tents set up in an old bedroom, still full of family memorabilia and flanked by a disused double bed, to cultivate his plants. By doing so, he’s risking a potential jail term of up to 14 years.

“I was fed up of having to deal with drug dealers and criminals to get cannabis from, and having no assertion of quality, where it comes from or how it would affect me,” he says on why he started his operation.

“In the past, I’ve found cannabis that was laced with heroin and speed by dealers to make it more addictive to people and increase the demand.

“Growing it myself gives me the ability to control to some degree the levels of CBD and THC in my plants. I grow a variety of different strains for different effects they can give people. Sativas have an uplifting effect while Indicas have more of a ‘body stoned’ effect.”

CBD and THC are two of the best-known cannabinoid compounds contained within cannabis plants. They operate together like yin and yang: the former uplifts and provides anti-psychotic qualities, while the latter can induce relaxation and make you feel stoned. Many of the plants that appear to be beneficial to Gareth and those he supplies – at least on anecdotal evidence – contain a balance of both.

It was a particular strain of Sativa plant, which contained the higher levels of CBD, that Gareth found effective in treating nausea and pain in those dying of cancer.

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Credit: Jennifer Selby

“A friend of mine’s mother found out that she had spinal cancer and it spread to her lungs.

“They caught it very late and she was given three months to live. She went through chemotherapy and it made her very sick. It was hard for her to enjoy her last few months. She really wanted to avoid using opiates like morphine and diamorphine, which is heroin. She had three children and she wanted to be as conscious as possible and give them her last moments.

“Cannabis gave her the ability to eat, took away some of the sickness and meant she didn’t have to be high all of the time.”

Gareth believes denying cancer patients the choice of medicinal cannabis over stronger opiates is a direct breach of human rights.

“It is limiting options for people and putting them onto the worst case scenario – heroin – straight away. It takes away your personality and who you are.

“I think it is a massive human rights violation to give people the choice of only an opiate or a pharmaceutical rather than a potential natural product that may be incredibly useful to them. People shouldn’t be told how to live in that way.”

****

Alex Fraser is a leading figure in the United Patient’s Alliance, an organisation that represents the interests of medicinal cannabis patients in the UK. He uses cannabis every day to help him deal with Crohn’s disease, a type of inflammatory bowel condition.

“I live in Brighton, so finding cannabis for me isn’t difficult,” he says. “Finding cannabis that works with my condition is another story. If I buy it on the street, there is no way of me knowing if it is unadulterated. It’s unregulated and made in someone’s back room.

“I need a cannabis that is very balanced in CBD and THC. Most of it on the street is very high in THC. Through the Patient’s Alliance I know people that grow their own cannabis so I go and speak to them about it, and often [getting cannabis from them] is much better.”

Greg de Hoedt, a fellow Crohn’s disease sufferer who relies on cannabis to survive, set up the UK Cannabis Social Clubs after being inspired by similar collectives in the US.

The organisation now has 160 clubs around the UK, growing a regulated number of plants for medicinal and personal use. Under the scheme, they collect data and swap information on the strains that work for different people with different conditions.

Uniquely, they also offer members the opportunity to have their cannabis tested by sending samples to a laboratory in an unspecified location so they can find out exactly what is in it, and the levels of cannabinoids it contains.

Local clubs supply cannabis to those in desperate need all over the UK. At the time of speaking, Greg had embarked on a three-hour drive to deliver oil to a cancer patient who had exhausted all other options.

“A lot of people grow cannabis for people who are unable to do it for themselves, either through fear of breaking the law, or lack of capabilities, for example, if they are physically disabled. We have a tag plant model. Nine plants or under and the police don’t generally consider you a commercial outfit.

“However some police forces were handing out cautions and confiscating plants. I had someone on the phone telling me their home was being raided by police at that moment. He had four plants he had been growing for his mother who is sick with cancer. The police ended up taking the plants but leaving the cannabis for his mum. Even [the police] know how vital this is.”

Not all, however, are lucky enough to have the right supply or combination of cannabinoids made available to them in time.

“I’ve known some of these mothers who have lost children to epilepsy who wanted access to cannabis oil but couldn’t get it because their supply had dried up or their dealer got arrested.”

****

One such mother on the brink of a similar tragedy, Charlotte Caldwell, whose son, Billy, together with the case of six-year-old epilepsy sufferer Alfie Dingley, forced the Home Office review into relaxing the law regarding the prescription of medical cannabis to patients in need.

So far, it is not clear exactly what the review will achieve. There are talks of an expert medical panel being set up to judge individual cases, like Billy and Alfie’s, as they come up. However the sheer volume of people in need – and the lack of knowledge among clinicians about the practicalities of cannabis use, not to mention clinical research stymied by licensing issues and costs – could make this an impractical solution that leaves desperate people continuing to rely on grows from clandestine operations.

Sources have suggested the Home Office could move the 2001 Regulations scheduling of cannabis, which determine in what circumstances it is lawful to possess, supply, produce, export and import controlled drugs, from a Schedule 1 drug to a Schedule 2 drug. This means it will be re-categorised from being a drug considered to have “no therapeutic value” to one that can be prescribed, and therefore legally possessed, if supplied by pharmacists and doctors.

The fact cannabis isn’t already considered a Schedule 2 drug is a point much discussed by the growers. This is largely due to the then home secretary Theresa May granting a license for a drug called Sativex, made by GW Pharmaceuticals after years of research in Britain in 2010.

Containing CBD and THC cannabinoids, and grown from the seeds of Skunk 1, a high-strength THC marijuana not dissimilar to the sort smoked recreationally on the streets, the oral spray used to treat spasticity in patients with MS has been tightly described and marketed to avoid being labelled as cannabis – despite clearly being a form of cannabis described as illegal under the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act (pure CBD is currently legal).

If cannabis is officially deemed to have “no therapeutic value” and “not enough research conducted” on its benefits, why is the government knowingly licensing Sativex as a medicine?

Moreover, why are we exporting and growing quite so much of it?

According to a recent UN report, 95 tonnes of marijuana was produced in the UK in 2016 for medicinal and scientific use, making up 44.9 per cent of the world total. Britain is also the largest illegal exporter of the drug, sending out 70 per cent of the world’s total for consumption abroad.

Ideas as to why this seeming hypocrisy exists range from the government's potential vested interest in GW Pharmaceuticals to keep a monopoly on the production of medicinal cannabis (a large investor is Theresa May’s husband Philip May’s Capital Group. GWP chair Geoffrey Guy is also a Tory donor), to accusations of a civil servant prejudice against cannabis because of the stigma attached to recreational use.

Peter Reynolds, the president of Clear, a UK lobby group which campaigns to end the prohibition of cannabis, says licensing for other companies to produce and research cannabis-based medicines has been all but impossible.

“The biggest scandal of all is that the government takes the position that there is an established licensing regime for companies and patients and that anyone and any company can apply for one.

“That is a lie. We’ve applied for licenses for very sick people in the past and they have all been rejected without review.

“I was asked to apply for a license of a large and very reputable Canadian company who wanted to research cannabis for potential use in its product – there was no way to get a license. The Home Office rejected it out of hand. They wanted to build 100,000 sq ft custom build facility, employ hundreds of people, invest millions in the UK, and the Home Office was just not interested.

“The reason for it, to borrow that phrase from the Windrush scandal, is to create a hostile environment to people, to individual people who use cannabis as medicine. I think it is deep-seated prejudice, embedded in senior civil servants. I think its because they don’t understand cannabis. They are prejudiced against cannabis use because of counter-culture.”

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A leaflet published by Clear.

The Home Office declined to comment – or to shed any further light – on Reynold’s claims.

Instead, they told the New Statesman: “We recognise that people with chronic pain and debilitating illnesses are looking to alleviate their symptoms. However, it is important that medicines are thoroughly tested to ensure they meet rigorous standards before being placed on the market, so that doctors and patients are assured of their efficacy, quality and safety.”

The chicken and egg and scenario continues.

***

Even if the government do decide to reschedule medicinal cannabis, cost will likely continue to be a factor for those seeking the drug, particularly if the products are forced to go through the same rigorous licensing and marketing procedures as Sativex was.

Sativex is not licensed for prescription on the NHS in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland because is too expensive, setting back the average patient around £400 a month. Almost identical medicinal cannabis can be obtained on the street, or grown, for a tenth of the price. NICE (the National Institute of Care and Health Excellence) advises against Sativex for the same reason, deeming the effectiveness of the product not equal to its monetary value.

A drug for specific forms of childhood epilepsy, Epidiolex, also made by GW Pharmaceuticals thanks to a commercial grow owned and managed by British Sugars, could be available in the first quarter of 2019. Again, the cost of that is a moot point, with some analysts predicting prices per month could creep into the thousands.

“At the moment, even the one cannabis drug that is out there, people can’t afford it,” Greg continues. “People are forced to break the law to seek it. If they release a medical cannabis that is too expensive or isn’t the right strain for their condition, they will just carry on doing what they are doing now and growing it themselves.”

“Even if they did relax the laws on licensing cannabis on prescription I would still continue to grow,” Gareth agrees. “Even with imports the problem will be the price. People need instant care and they should have access to it regardless of what they can afford.”

Perhaps a better thing for the Home Office to consider, Greg suggests, is that licensing pharmaceutical products based on cannabis will not stop people from growing their own. Instead, there are opportunities for them to be resourceful.

“We need to have a testing facility where patients can send their strains in, test them, and record the information and the effect of different strains with different combinations of CBD and THC on patients,” he says.

There is another fix that could radically change things for sufferers more quickly. Peter believes upping cannabis to a Schedule 4 drug would allow individuals and clinicians to import licensed and tested medicinal cannabis, like Bedrocan, from the Netherlands.

“If the government change the drug to Schedule 4 today, then they can prescribe a drug already regulated by an EU government, already fully researched. There is no excuse at all for it.”

Even if the review, expected to be rushed through by Home Secretary Sajid Javid in a matter of weeks, manages to incorporate all of the above, there’s another reason many patients will continue to grow their own that is hard to put a value on: the control it gives them over their own health in an otherwise out-of-control situation.

“If you have a chronic illness, you are given a bag of pills by a doctor and told to get on with it,” Greg concludes. “Your social life is dead. People do not want to come and hang out at your home when you are sick.

“When I was in America, patient life was very different. They had collectives, they grow between them and they share their meds between them I felt so much better. Yes, I’m getting cannabis, but the social interactions I’m getting are making me feel human again.

“People taking health into their own hands in this way? That’s empowerment right there. It’s my medicine, my choice.”

*Name has been changed for legal reasons.
 
"Gareth believes denying cancer patients the choice of medicinal cannabis over stronger opiates is a direct breach of human rights."

^^^i very strongly agree with this... who has the right to deny a human on thus earth, a harmless method of treatment over such destructive compounds...
So wrong..

"The police ended up taking the plants but leaving the cannabis for his mum. Even [the police] know how vital this is.”

Iv been in a similar situation and got to keep everything.. the police are incredibly reasonable with this stuff now.. and this was years ago now..
They could see im just a family man, that doesnt want to associate with criminals to aquire unreliable, potentially unsafe product, at massivly inflated prices...

Can one consume CANNABIS in FRANCE?
ENGLAND @Kellya86 will help me!

I certainly will... some of my prime colas and some rosin for your stay should keep a cali man happy for his trip.. im thinking a nice country pub lunch somewhere to meet..

But i have no idea how you will sort yourself in france..
Im thinking of going barcelona for a bit..
They have cannabis club dispensaries...
 

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