The reason that in some parts of the US there are now more medical marijuana outlets than branches of Starbucks (Drug policy danger, letters 11th June) is because there is a huge demand for cannabis. Where there is a huge demand for something which the state prohibits, the price rises and a criminal market is created. As we have seen very clearly from alcohol and cannabis prohibition, that quickly leads to violence, human trafficking and far more harms than caused by the substance itself.

In fact, the weight of evidence now shows that not only are the harms of cannabis trivial in comparison to alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs but that for most adults, consumed in moderation, cannabis is actually beneficial.

Scientists now understand that endocannabinoid deficiency is the cause of many modern illnesses, particularly auto immune conditions such as MS, Crohn’s, cancer and diabetes. Cannabis is a natural supplement to the endocannabinoid system and can help protect against these conditions. It is also now recognised as neuroprotective and can be helpful in preventing disorders such as Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The continuing prohibition of cannabis is based on vested interests, particularly the opposition of the alcohol industry and the avaricious motives of the drug support industry and the tabloid press. When the truth about the extraordinary benefits of cannabis becomes widely known we will understand how we have been deceived and cheated by those who support prohibition. They have cost us not just billions in law enforcement resources and tax revenue but enormous opportunities for improvement in health.

Peter Reynolds
Leader
CLEAR Cannabis Law Reform

Letter To The Times On Drugs Policy, 11th June 2013 - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Really great work here from Sarah Martin.  It’s very moving and wonderful to see her doing so well on medicinal cannabis.  Thank God for the fortunate few who can access Sativex and enjoy these fantastic benefits.

I would like to see GW Pharmaceuticals doing more to enable more people to use their medicine. I would like to see the Home Office reverse its present cruel and dishonest policy on medicinal cannabis.

This short film that will do a wonderful job of telling the truth about medicinal cannabis and Sarah’s strategy, to stay away from the preaching and snake oil claims, is to be admired.

Sativex In Britain 2013. Sarah Martin - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

A guest article by DisqusCannabis.

This is the same Ken Clarke that was deputy chairman of British American Tobacco. Ironic isn’t it?

In the last HASC meeting, Prof Nutt predicted a 25% reduction in alcohol use if cannabis was legalised. Now you see why they called in Ken to give evidence yesterday, to protect the tobacco profits! He cannot relinquish his stance on cannabis for fear of BAT’s share value plummeting. ‘Soft’ drugs are never explicitly mentioned. Ministers only use the single phrase ‘drugs’ so they don’t have to class them separately, or compare them to the ‘drugs’ they want us to take.

This man doesn’t know anything about drugs, other than how to run a multi-billion dollar company that sells them. 100,000 deaths each year Ken! He even acknowledges that prohibition isn’t working, but offers no alternative solution. Mr Clarke and the government don’t want a solution. They want to funnel people down the path of caffeine/alcohol/tobacco use as they ARE addictive. That’s the whole point, a constant revenue stream.

In almost every instance, the groups that object to cannabis legalisation stand to lose a great deal of their income. Boots object so they retain a huge share of the market in ‘everyday’ drugs, for example paracetamol.

Tobacco and alcohol industries fear the drop in revenue.

‘Research’ groups and charities object as they get funding to carry out said research.

That was the cause of the disgraceful study the British Lung Foundation released several weeks ago. They know that tobacco has been proven to cause lung conditions, so are unlikely to receive further funding to ‘research’ it. As a result they switch to ‘researching’ cannabis therefore receiving funding and donations. They claimed cannabis smoking was 20 times as harmful as tobacco when the evidence suggests the exact opposite.

The BLF were even stupid enough to include Donald Tashkin’s study from 1988 in their report. In 1988, Tashkin was given a research grant from the US Government to ‘prove’ cannabis causes cancer. At that time, he believed this to be the case. After further studies, Tashkin concluded the exact opposite. Pure cannabis smokers were shown to have the same or slightly lower risk of head, neck, mouth and lung cancer as non-smokers!

The BLF conveniently ignored this result, and only published his earlier study in their report. I guess they didn’t expect anybody would disbelieve their claims. If they are looking for further funding, they shouldn’t lie in order to receive it. That is theft by deception, a criminal offence!

The fact that ‘Boots’ group submitted evidence against cannabis legalisation should tell you all you need to know! Why would a pharmacy group have cause to object to cannabis legalisation? Because of its many medicinal properties perhaps? But doesn’t our government say cannabis has no medicinal value? Why would Boots object then? Hang on, didn’t the Home Office licence GW Pharma to legally grow hundreds of tonnes of cannabis per year to sell as medicine? That could get confusing.

I have tried to demonstrate to people a current example of a politician/business/lobby group that supports prohibition for their own motives.This HASC inquiry shows all three of these groups doing exactly that publicly.

If people wish to continue believing the lies our government and media spout about cannabis, more fool them. If they wish to enlighten themselves, all the info is available on line.

In the interest of balance, I accept cannabis is not completely harmless. It is however, rated almost identically to caffeine in its potential harm to self and others, a drug our current laws allow to be sold unrestricted to five year olds.This is why the government doesn’t like to compare the relative harm of ollegal and legal drugs.

The prohibition of Cannabis is preventing cures and treatments for hundreds of conditions. Alzheimers, MS, Parkinsons, arthritis, depression, schizophrenia, PTSD etc. Perhaps the biggest failure is that a potential cancer cure is unable to be developed. THC has proven cancer killing properties, both in the lab and in animals. No ‘official’ human tests have been done that I am aware of, but many people are individually treating their cancer with cannabis. They are claiming they have full remission of their cancers after treatment with cannabis oil. We will never know if official testing cannot be done. I can only assume that our politicians don’t care about a possible cancer cure when there is so much money to be made elsewhere.

People are being lied to. Cannabis is the most beneficial plant mankind has ever known. Why don’t we stop patronising our citizens and tell them the truth? They will find out in the end, and they won’t be happy when they do!

Ken Clarke At The HASC Drugs Inquiry - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Bald and bubbly Dominic Littlewood walked straight into the welcoming arms of the joint GW Pharma/Home Office propaganda machine last week.  In fact,  Dominic needs to face up to the fact that this  time he was the one who was conned.

He meekly repeated the lies that seek to distinguish Sativex from cannabis.  A complaint has been submitted.

BBC Complaints

Dear Sirs,

Postcode Lottery, 7th March 2012

I am the elected leader of Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), a UK political party which seeks an end to the prohibition of cannabis, most urgently for those who need it as medicine.

I wish to complain about the inaccurate and misleading information broadcast about Sativex during the above programme.

Dominic Littlewood, the presenter, said:

“Sativex is a drug made from cannabis. It is legal because all of the elements that would naturally cause a cannabis high are removed first and it works because the active ingredients that are left radically reduce the pain in the inflamed nerve endings of MS sufferers.”

This is entirely false. Sativex is an whole plant extract made from two different strains of cannabis. It contains all the cannabinoids, flavonoids, terpines and other compounds that naturally occur in the plants. It is, in fact, a super strong, super concentrated tincture of 51% THC skunk cannabis. “Euphoric mood” is described as a ”common” side effect in the Sativex summary of product characteristics (SPC). Sativex most certainly gets you “high” and this is part of its therapeutic effect.

Even more worrying than the gross inaccuracy in this description is that it matches exactly with the disinformation campaign about Sativex from its manufacturers GW Pharmaceuticals which is supported by the Home Office.

GW Pharmaceuticals and the Home Office seek falsely to distinguish Sativex from cannabis as part of a dishonest and misleading government policy which states that “there is no medicinal value in cannabis”.

I applaud the programme’s description of the great benefit that Sativex offers MS patients and its exposure of the way the “postcode lottery” discriminates against some. However, the even greater cause for concern is the government sponsored deception of what Sativex actually is.

Sativex is sold to the NHS at 10 times the price that cannabis is available from organised crime on the streets. This is why so many PCTs are reluctant to pay for it. MS patients who might choose to grow their own cannabis, virtually for free, face jail and a criminal record for doing so.

It cannot be right that the BBC so uncritically repeats this GW and government sponsored propaganda.

This misinformation must be corrected by an apology and a correction broadcast to ensure that all those who were misled by the programme are properly informed.

Beyond that, I do believe that the BBC and Dominic Littlewood genuinely have consumers’ and patients’ interests in mind. The full resources of CLEAR would be put at your disposal should you wish to produce a programme that properly investigates the “Sativex Scam”, the unlawful GW Pharma monopoly of medicinal cannabis and the cruel and dishonest government policy which denies people the medicine they need.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Reynolds

BBC Taken In By The Sativex Scam. - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Sativex is super strong, concentrated cannabis.  Nothing more, nothing less.

GW Pharmaceuticals would have you believe that it’s a “pharmaceutical” product because according to its research that’s what patients prefer.  As the GW spokesman puts it, “It’s a pharmaceutical solution, formulated with the ability to deliver a precise dose and with stringent standards of quality, safety and efficacy”.

In fact, what GW does is grow high quality cannabis under pretty much the same conditions as most illegal growers.   It uses clonal propagation to ensure consistent levels of cannabinoids.  Lighting and hydroponic nutrition is computer controlled with automatic ventilation. It really is no different from the most sophisticated and efficient illegal cannabis farms.  It’s a recognised and proven technology now also used by Bedrocan in Holland, the Dutch government’s exclusive medicinal cannabis grower and Gropech in California which is building a new 60,000 sq ft facility in Oakland for an annual harvest worth $50 million.

Bedrocan Grow

The difference between these crops from legal and illegal growers is insignificant.  It’s similar to buying your tomatoes from the supermarket or the farm shop.

GW Grow

GW takes its high quality cannabis, chops it up and makes a tincture by heating it under pressure with CO2 and then adding ethanol to precipitate an oil. Then, with the addition of a little peppermint oil to mask the taste and some preservative, the filtered liquid is packaged into tiny little aerosol bottles.  Each spray delivers 2.7mg of THC and 2.5mg of CBD.  What GW doesn’t tell you that it also contains all the other 100+  cannabinoids found in the plant, each of which has its own mechanism of action and effect.  It also contains flavonoids, terpines and other compounds.  Everything that is found in the plant.

Illegal Grow

I applaud GW Pharmaceuticals for bringing the enormous benefits of cannabinoid therapy into the 21st century. It’s nothing new though. The medicinal value of the plant has been known and widely used for thousands of years.  Only in the last century has it been demonised by lies and propaganda.  It would be a mistake though to think that Sativex is anything different from the plant itself.  It’s just been wrapped up in a marketing and physical package which has enabled stupid and cowardly politicians to accept it.

In fact, Sativex remains just as illegal in Britain as herbal cannabis.  Even though it has received MHRA approval for use in the treatment of MS spasticity and may be prescribed by a doctor, it remains a schedule 1 drug under the Misuse Of Drugs Act 1971.  The Home Office has indicated that it intends to amend the law but has not yet done so.  This means that any pharmacist who dispenses Sativex at present would be guilty of exactly the same criminal offence as any street dealer in weed or hash.

The Home Office will, of course, turn a blind eye to this but not to medicinal herbal cannabis even though, in every sense, it is identical to Sativex (except that Sativex also contains alcohol and peppermint oil).  The stark idiocy of British law is revealed.

Never before has there been a better example of the how the law is an ass and so are the spineless politicians who support it.

Update

In 2011 the Home Office issued what it calls an “Open General Licence” for Sativex allowing it to be prescribed and dispensed.  A doctor may prescribe Sativex for its approved purposed “spasticity in MS” or, “off label”, for any condition he or she believes it to be beneficial for.  However, “off label” prescriptions are the doctor’s personal responsibility so it is easy to understand why doctors may be hesitant to do so.

Most PCTs and health authorities are refusing to fund Sativex because of the extraordinarily high price that GW and its UK distributors Bayer want to charge the NHS.  At about £175 per bottle, Sativex costs around 10 times what organised crime sells cannabis for on the streets.  Products that are pharmacologically identical to Sativex are available from medical marijuana dispensaries in the US for around $20 per bottle (usually containing much more than the GW product).  Alta California offers three varieties of a Sativex-type tincture with different cannabinoid ratios for different purposes.

In June 2011, CLEAR and Action4MS announced a joint venture Access Sativex which will seek to organise and help people apply for Sativex.

The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has recommended that Sativex be  placed in schedule four of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MoDA).  The chair, Professor Les Iversen, wrote to the Home Office on 14th January 2011 with this advice but nothing has been done.  It is easy to understand why.  As Professor Iversen wrote:  “The ACMD is also aware that it will not be appropriate to refer to “Sativex”, which is a proprietary name, in any amendment to the misuse of drugs regulations, and that a suitable description of the relevant component(s) of “Sativex” will have to be scheduled”.

There is no honest or accurate way to describe Sativex except to say that it is cannabis.  The Home Office is on the record as saying that “the future scheduling of this medicinal product will not affect the classification of cannabis” which is unambiguous evidence of an intention to deceive.

Perhaps the most important truth to emerge from this story of deceit and disinformation is the statement made by Professor H.P. Hartung, Chair of Neurology at Heinrich-Heine University, Dusseldorf, Germany on 24th October 2011.  He was commenting on data from three Phase III trials involving over 1,500 MS patients as well as first everyday clinical practice data were presented by a panel of international experts at the European Congress of Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Amsterdam.

“Sativex^® has proven to reduce the severity of symptoms and improve patients’ quality of life and functional status, in patients with spasticity in multiple sclerosis, meaning that they can undertake everyday tasks more easily. Also, importantly, clinical experience to date has demonstrated that the tolerability profile of this medicine is favourable, with limited relevant adverse effects and – particularly reassuring – the drug does not appear to lead to withdrawal effects if patients suddenly stop using it.”

The Truth About Sativex - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Originally published on politics.co.uk, 21-11-11

The Unexpurgated Version!

In the mid 1930s, after the end of alcohol prohibition, Harry Anslinger, former assistant commissioner at the Bureau of Prohibition was settling into his exciting new job as head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and working on his next campaign.

“This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with negroes, entertainers and any others.” he wrote in one of Randolph Hearst’s newspapers.  Hearst was behind the organised campaign against cannabis hemp, then one of America’s most successful crops, by timber, oil and paper interests.  The strategy was to slur the plant with the racist term “marijuana”, demonise it, outlaw it and wipe it out.

Come forward about 80 years to the present day.  In the US there is the White House drugs czar Gil Kerlikowske and the head of the DEA, Michelle Leonhart.  In Britain we have James Brokenshire, the Home Office minister.  These people are faithful in style and message to their role model Anslinger.  They use arguments and propaganda of exactly the same type and value but adjusted to politically correct 2011 terms. Their weapon is deceit and their strategy is intransigence. The prejudice, discrimination and media scaremongering continues.  As Anslinger had Randolph Hearst’s media empire, so Brokenshire has the Daily Mail.

James Broken...... (complete as desired)

The Mail came out all guns blazing last week in response to the Global Initiative on Drug Policy Reform and the ex-head of MI5, Baroness Manningham-Buller,  calling for legal regulation.  Despite the furious propaganda war it has waged against cannabis and cannabis users the issue won’t go away.  Why?  Because millions of British citizens regularly use and enjoy cannabis with no ill effects and many find it of enormous therapeutic benefit for conditions such as chronic pain, MS and Crohn’s disease.  Also, because this war on cannabis is just another war on people.  It is futile, expensive and causes far more harm than it prevents.  It has created the modern phenomenon of rented property being destroyed, electricity being stolen with human trafficked gardeners and intensive production of high potency cannabis.

Buffoon

For forty years the Daily Mail has been running its malevolent, systematic campaign of misinformation and false science.  So successful has it been that it has had both the present and the former prime minister repeating its untruths like faithful disciples.  Gordon Brown and Paul Dacre conspiring together to come out with the “skunk is lethal” buffoonery in 2008 is one of the most blatant examples of improper collusion between government and media. In March this year, in a YouTube Al Jazeera interview, David Cameron made a series of statements about cannabis that are absolutely false which despite repeated polite requests he has done nothing to correct. Even more astonishing is the way the Mail has brought its competitors along with it.  Not just tabloids, even The Independent, which had made a noble and courageous stand for a rational policy back in 1997 was duped 10 years later into its famous “Cannabis, An Apology” front page.

The Daily Mail In Disguise

Duped is exactly the right word.  Amongst a torrent of sensationalist claims there was “skunk cannabis is 25 times stronger”, “more than 22,000 people were treated last year for cannabis addiction”, that there was “growing proof that skunk causes mental illness and psychosis”.  All presented in accordance with the Daily Mail stylesheet.  This year, the Independent on Sunday’s chief political commentator, John Rentoul, wrote “It is a bad thing that the drugs business is in the hands of criminals. My view is that it would be a worse thing if it were legalised, and regulated or administered by the government.” It is astonishing that a man who takes such an irrational and irresponsible position should be given a platform for such views.

All of The Independent’s claims were false.  The truth is that cannabis today is on average about two to three times stronger than it used to be, about 750 people each year are admitted to hospital for cannabis (while 3000 are admitted for peanuts) and there is no proof at all of a causal link between cannabis and psychosis, only of correlation and increase in risk – but the increase is far greater for alcohol and tobacco use, even for energy drinks.  Also alcohol is clearly proven actually to cause psychosis in around 1% of users.

The best evidence about cannabis and psychosis is a review of all published research (Hickman et al 2009) so, by definition, not cherry picked.  It shows that, although there is no proof of causation, the risk of a correlation between lifetime cannabis use and a single psychotic episode is at worst 0.013% and probably less than 0.003%.

High Priest Of Propaganda

The Daily Mail’s campaign has become self-perpetuating.  Its high priest was chosen as Professor Sir Robin Murray at the church of the Institute of Psychiatry.  Science is usually about dispassionate analysis of evidence but Sir Robin is a very active anti-cannabis campaigner.  In 2005 he found what he thought was his holy grail, he was a co-author on a paper which postulated a theory about a functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene.  This was reported as meaning that 25% of young people who used cannabis would go on to develop psychosis.

This single piece of research, which was only ever a theory, has been at the centre of all the Reefer Madness scare stories of the last six years. The Daily Mail and Sir Robin promote it  with vigour, it is the foundation of Mary Brett’s Cannabis Skunk Sense campaign and of the deeply irresponsible hysteria from Charles Walker MP, who even goes so far as to say that cocaine is safer than cannabis.

What none of these mischievous propagandists will tell you is that three further studies have been published since, the most recent just two months ago, that disprove the COMT gene cannabis theory completely.

But it is much more than mischief. This mendacious campaign has criminalised millions of citizens, worldwide tens of thousands have been killed and millions more denied safe, effective and inexpensive relief from a wide range of diseases and conditions.  What was originally driven by oil, timber and paper interests is now driven by Big Booze and Big Pharma.  The first is terrified of a much safer, non-addictive, non-toxic alternative to its popular poison.  The second is desperately trying to patent new varieties, extracts and components of the plant in the knowledge that modern science now proves that cannabis is as close to a panacea as possible. Only discovered in 1988, we now know that the endocannabinoid system is fundamental to all aspects of life.  Endocannabinoid deficiency is now being postulated as the fundamental cause of cancers, MS, fibromyalgia and many other conditions.  The only natural source of cannabinoids outside the body is the cannabis plant.  No wonder that 100 years ago more than half of all medicines in the British pharmacopeia contained cannabis.

The Mendacious Paul Dacre

The Daily Mail’s campaign has been remarkably successful.  Make no mistake, virtually all of the reefer madness can be traced back to it.  Other newspapers have followed its lead.  Even police officers and members of the judiciary declare as facts what are actually Daily Mail scare stories. Funding for cannabis research is most easily available if a scientist subscribes to the Daily Mail agenda.  The truth and the scientific evidence have been corrupted.  Irrational prejudice has been promoted and swallowed whole by many who should know far better.  It is a bandwagon that many have chosen to jump on.

What is the truth about cannabis?  Another myth is that there is disagreement amongst scientists.  This isn’t the case.  All the evidence points in the same direction – that cannabis use does increase the risk of psychosis and that the risk is greater at a younger age. This is meaningless though unless it is placed in context and compared with the risk from other activities.  Then it is clear that, relatively speaking, cannabis is very safe.

Professor Les Iversen. "Cannabis is safe"

The bizarre truth is that Professor Les Iversen, the government’s chief drugs advisor, is on the record saying this again and again but the Daily Mail doesn’t print it and the government ignores it, only accepting the advice it chooses to.  Professor Iversen is also a long time advocate of the medicinal use of cannabis but the government continues with its inane position that “there is no medicinal value” in cannabis. Simultaneously, the Home Office has granted a unique monopoly licence to GW Pharmaceuticals to grow 20 tonnes of cannabis a year for medicinal use.  You really couldn’t make it up, could you?

Just last month GW announced the results of clinical trials which show that its super-strong, super-concentrated, 51% THC skunk cannabis medicine Sativex has “…limited relevant adverse effects and – particularly reassuring – the drug does not appear to lead to withdrawal effects if patients suddenly stop using it.” – a far cry from the usual hysteria about psychosis and addiction.

There is a furore in the US over medical marijuana.  The DEA and the massive forces of prohibition see their business coming to an end.  They are fighting back furiously but ultimately they cannot frustrate the declared will of the people.  77% of of all Americans now favour legalising medical marijuana on a federal level.  16 states have already done so.  The market is predicted to be worth nearly $10 billion within a few years.

Last week Switzerland announced that cultivating four plants per person would no longer be an offence.  It’s one plant in Belgium, five plants in Holland and they’re even less strict in Italy and Spain. The Czech Republic and Slovakia are reforming their laws.  In Britain, cannabis production is regularly treated more severely than paedophilia or violent assault.  Just a few plants can get you more than a year in prison.  There is a brutal and disproportionate crackdown in Sheffield at the moment led by Judge Alan Goldsack QC and the South Yorkshire police.  Both the judge and police officers are on the record in local media spouting false science and encouraging hatred of cannabis users.

Medicinal cannabis is available all over Europe except Britain and France.  Residents of other European countries, prescribed cannabis by their doctor can bring it to Britain and use it without restriction under the protection of the Schengen Agreement.  A British resident would risk jail. The Daily Mail’s campaign amounts to a hate crime against cannabis users.  The Press Complaints Commission has proved itself incapable of correcting even blatant falsification of scientific evidence.  More than a million people in Britain now have a criminal record for cannabis.  According to independent research, every year our government gifts up to £9.5 billion to organised crime rather than adopting the safer, more responsible policy of tax and regulate (Taxing the UK Cannabis Market, IDMU 2011).

All these factors are combining to make change urgent and imminent.  We are witnessing the death throes of prohibition while its advocates make a desperate and frantic last stand, their final frenzy.

There is one huge obstacle left to overcome.  How can our cowardly political leaders find a way to save face while reversing the dreadful policy they have supported for so long?  If any issue exposes the hypocrisy and dishonesty of politicians and the way that the media has an improper influence, then it is cannabis.  We have to find a way to let them off the hook.

Miracle

In years to come, the attitudes that now prevail towards people that choose cannabis will be as politically incorrect as racism, homophobia or denying women the vote.  Cannabis is one of God’s greatest gifts with which mankind has had a symbiotic relationship since the dawn of time.  The prohibition experiment of the last 80 years has been a disaster.  A rational approach will bring enormous benefits to our country, save billions in wasted expenditure, create thousands of new jobs, cut crime and disorder, provide tremendously safe and effective relief to millions in pain and disability.  The time has come to embrace cannabis as the miraculous plant that it is.

Reefer Madness In A Final Frenzy - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Dear Sirs,

I wish to make a complaint against Acting Detective Inspector Bob Chapman of South Yorkshire Police concerning statements made by him and published in The Star newspaper on 29th October 2011. The article in question is available online here: http://www.thestar.co.uk/community/drugs_crackdown_15_arrests_and_50k_of_drugs_seized_in_sheffield_1_3919511

I make the complaint on my own account but also in my capacity as the Leader of Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), a UK political party, of P.O.Box 674, Salfords, Redhill, RH1 9BN. Thousands of the members of CLEAR need cannabis as medicine to treat conditions such as MS, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia and spinal injury. For the purposes of correspondence, please contact me via email.

As published in The Star, Acting DCI Chapman said: “The strength of some of the skunk cannabis on sale is, in my opinion, of a strength comparable to Class A rather than Class B drugs.”

This is a false, nonsensical and misleading statement which attempts to deceive the public:

a) that the A/DCI has some specific scientific knowledge about the “strength” of “skunk cannabis” on sale in Sheffield
b) that there is some meaning or scientific validity in comparing the “strength” of “Class A” and “Class B” drugs
c) that the A/DCI is an expert in the subject and the public can rely on the accuracy and veracity of what he says
d) into fear, consternation and hatred of cannabis users as a social group

In making this statement the A/DCI has acted dishonestly, without integrity, fairness and impartiality. He has abused his authority by making statements which are false, nonsensical and misleading but which, as a senior police officer, he knows that the public will believe without question. He has also acted in a way that discredits the police service and will undermine public confidence.

a) In order to make any such comparison, the A/DCI would need to have results of cannabinoid content analysis of “skunk cannabis” currently on sale in Sheffield. There would also need to be a determination of what “strength” means. Does it relate to THC content alone, to THC ameliorated by CBD or to any of the other hundreds of cannabinoids, flavonoids and terpines present in cannabis?
b) The “class” of a drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MoDA) is determined by the degree to which it is likely to cause social harm. Health or individual harms are not within the remit of the MoDA except where they may amount to social harm. In any event, the pharmacology of drugs in “Class A” and “Class B” is not the same and so any comparison is impossible and to suggest it is misleading.
c) The public are likely to be deceived and misled by the A/DCI’s words
d) The public are likely to be alarmed by the A/DCI’s words which are clearly intended to cause fear, consternation and hatred of cannabis users as a social group

I accept that the A/DCI has a duty to uphold the law as it presently stands, It is however entirely improper for him to engage in politics, scaremongering, the promotion of false science and propaganda.

I would be grateful if you would deal with this complaint at your earliest convenience. I shall be happy to provide any further information required or to give oral evidence in support.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Reynolds

IPCC Complaint – Acting Detective Chief Inspector Bob Chapman of South Yorkshire Police - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

For immediate release 31st October 2011

Sheffield Police And Judge Engaged In ‘Brutal Terrorism’ Against The Public

The Sheffield police and Judge Alan Goldsack QC, recorder of Sheffield, are promoting false science, misinformation, prejudice and discrimination against people who use cannabis.

According to independent research, based on national averages and official population statistics, 138,000 people in Sheffield will use cannabis in their lifetime and more than 33,000 use it regularly (at least once per month).

Judge Alan Goldsack QC has said that “cannabis is a dangerous drug” but there is no basis in science or medicine for this claim. According to Professor Les Iversen, the government’s chief drugs advisor, cannabis is “one of the safer recreational drugs”. Based on a recent analysis of mortality, hospital admissions, toxicity and propensity to psychosis, cannabis is nearly 3000 times safer than alcohol, safer than virtually all other recreational drugs, OTC and POM medicines and less toxic than many common foodstuffs.

Acting Detective Chief Inspector Bob Chapman has said that “The strength of some of the skunk cannabis on sale is, in my opinion, of a strength comparable to Class A rather than Class B drugs.”. This is a reckless, misleading and false statement which has no basis in science or medicine.

Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR) has lodged a formal complaint to the Office of Judicial Complaints about Judge Goldsack and to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about Acting DCI Chapman.

Peter Reynolds, leader of CLEAR, said:

“It is astonishing that people like Judge Goldsack and Acting DCI Chapman should be making such irresponsible statements. These are not matters of opinion but matters that are determined by scientific evidence. These statements demonstrate ignorance and prejudice in people who should know better.”

DCI Chapman was responsible for a “Cannabis Action Week” in the last week of October which resulted in 15 arrests and the seizure of an alleged £50,000 worth of cannabis. In response, CLEAR has announced a “Cannabis Truth Week” which will offer information on the scientific and medical facts about cannabis. This will start with the appearance of Howard Marks, “Mr Nice”, at the Foundry, Sheffield University on Saturday 12th November. CLEAR will be bringing the Cannabis Truth roadshow to Sheffield throughout the week. There will also be a public debate held in a central location. Sheffield MPs Nick Clegg and David Blunkett, both of whom advocate a safer, more responsible policy of legal regulation of cannabis have been invited. Scientific and medical experts will be present as will a number of people who use cannabis as medicine to treat conditions such as MS and Crohn’s. Sheffield police have also been invited to attend.

Peter Reynolds said:

“CLEAR is standing up for tens of thousands of reasonable, responsible and respectable Sheffield citizens who are under attack with lies and misinformation in a campaign that seeks to terrorise them in the most brutal and threatening way.

The laws that prohibit cannabis are in direct contradiction to science, medicine and all available evidence on public health, harm reduction and effective drugs policy. We accept that Judge Goldsack and the police have a duty to uphold the present law but not by the promotion of untruths, false science and terror tactics

Is there not a dangerous drug problem in Sheffield with alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine? Why is so much public money being wasted on cannabis with paedophilia and violent assault being treated more leniently in the courts?”

ENDS

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:

Peter Reynolds – peterreynolds@clear-uk.org +44(0)788 0872022

www.clear-uk.org

P.O.Box 674, Salfords, REDHILL, Surrey, RH1 1BN

Sheffield Police And Judge Engaged In ‘Brutal Terrorism’ Against The Public - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Sarah Martin. Britain's Foremost MS/Cannabis Activist.

Sarah Martin, a legend in the British cannabis campaign and a CLEAR member, is speaking at the International Association For Cannabinoid Medicines (IACM) conference on Saturday, 10th September 2011.

This is the 6th IACM Conference on Cannabinoids in Medicine and the 5th European Workshop on Cannabinoid Research.  It is taking place in Bonn, Germany.  Details here.

GW Pharmaceuticals is also playing a major role in the conference.  What is clear though is that one brave individual, motivated by her own illness, offers far more value than Big Pharma with its government-sanctioned monopoly and misinformation campaign around Sativex.  While Sarah risks her freedom, GW’s directors socialise with government ministers.

Sarah is presenting a paper on the potential of cannabis oil for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).  This is one of the most significant contributions ever made in advancing cannabis as medicine in a fully accredited, scientific context .  We should all be bursting with pride at what Sarah has achieved.

CLEAR is also a member of the IACM. It was founded in March 2000 and its aim is to advance knowledge on cannabis, cannabinoids, the endocannabinoid system, and related topics especially with regard to their therapeutic potential.  This includes:

• Support for research into cannabis products and the endocannabinoid system;
• Promotion of exchange of information between researchers, health care practitioners, patients and the public;
• Preparation and dissemination of reliable information on the pharmacology, toxicology and therapeutic potential of cannabis and modulators of the endocannabinoid system;
• Monitoring and documentation of national and international developments with respect to cannabinoid therapeutics;
• Co-operation with other organisations and associations sharing the mission and goals of the IACM
• A declaration of the right of doctors to be able to discuss the medicinal use of cannabis with their patients.

The truth about cannabis is clear and no one is doing more to advance it than Sarah Martin.  We salute her.

Sarah Martin Represents The Leading Edge Of Cannabis Medicine In Britain. - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Dear Sirs,

“Drug addicts get methadone on the NHS… why can’t I have the cannabis spray that eases agonies of MS?”, the Daily Mail, 20-06-11

I wish to make a complaint concerning the above article which is still available online at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2005287/Drug-addicts-methadone-NHS–I-cannabis-spray-eases-agonies-MS.html

I make the complaint on my own account but also in my capacity as the Leader of Cannabis Law Reform (CLEAR), a UK political party, of P.O.Box 674, Salfords, Redhill, RH1 9BN. For the purposes of correspondence, please use my personal address as below.

1. This article breaches the Editors’ Code Of Practice clause 1.i) in that it publishes inaccurate, misleading and distorted information.

2. In paragraphs nine and ten the article states: “Sativex does contain THC, the chemical that gives recreational users of cannabis a ‘high’. But patients using Sativex don’t get high because the dose is much lower and it is a controlled form of the substance.” This is inaccurate, misleading and distorted information.

3. Sativex does contain THC but it also contains all 66+ cannabinoids found naturally in the plant. Sativex in fact IS cannabis and to attempt to distinguish it is inaccurate, misleading and distorted. It is manufactured by heating herbal cannabis with solid CO2 under pressure and then adding ethanol to precipitate an oil to which propylene glycol and peppermint oil are added for preservative and taste benefits. Pharmacologically, cannabis and Sativex are identical.

4. THC is not the only chemical that gives recreational users of cannabis a ‘high’. As well as the 66+ cannabinoids, there are perhaps another 400 substances present in the plant. The exact mechanism and the interactions of all these substances which contribute to the high is not fully understood. Suggesting that the high is only created by THC and that the THC dose is “lower” and “controlled” in Sativex and therefore users do not get high is inaccurate, misleading and distorted.

5. Users of Sativex do get high in exactly the same way as recreational users of cannabis. The Sativex summary of product characteristics (SPC) describes the effect as “dizziness”, “somnolence”, “intoxication”, “feeling drunk” and “euphoric mood”.

6. The dose of THC is not lower than for recreational users of cannabis. According to the Sativex SPC, each spray of Sativex contains 2.7 mg of THC. An average of four sprays at a time are indicated producing a dose of 10.8mg of THC. An average recreational smoker of cannabis will use 0.2g of cannabis containing 10% THC producing a dose of 20mg of THC. However, at least half of the THC in cannabis is burned away during smoking whereas all the THC in Sativex is ingested.

7. The term “a controlled form of the substance ” is meaningless and is just an attempt to distinguish Sativex from cannabis which is inaccurate, misleading and distorted.

I would be grateful if you would deal with this complaint at your earliest convenience. I shall be happy to provide any further information required or to give oral evidence in support.

Yours faithfully,

Peter Reynolds

PCC Complaint. The Daily Mail, 20th June 2011 - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

"Pass me that doobie and I'll consider it"

For those following this correspondence stage by stage, I wrote to Mr Cameron on 5th April and having received no reply wrote again on 26th April.

On 3rd May a letter in reply was sent from the infamous “Mrs E. Adams”, now known to be a mythical figure and an invention of 10, Downing Street.  She thanked me for my letter of 5th April and said:

“Your correspondence is currently under consideration.”

Well the consideration has now lasted two months, during which time Mr Cameron’s untruths about cannabis have been eclipsed by astonishing performances from two of his MPs.

Dorries The Dunce

Nadine Dorries easily qualifies as the most embarrassingly bad Tory MP of this parliament.  After cuckolding and then abandoning her husband as he was diagnosed with MS, she has now been revealed as paying £50,000 of taxpayer’s money to a close friend in extremely dubious circumstances.  Arithmetic is not her strong point.  On Any Questions at the beginning of June she said the cannabis available today is “50 times stronger” than it used to be and that smoking just one spliff will “prevent a child from reaching its full educational potential”.  Her own words and actions tell the truth about her far more effectively than anything I could say.

Charles "Cocaine for Kids" Walker

Then, just a few days later came perhaps the most serious gaffe ever made by an MP on anything to do with drugs.   The evidently well-intentioned but seriously misguided MP for Broxbourne, Charles Walker, has been put under a spell by the wicked witch Mary Brett.  He moved his adjournment debate on “Cannabis and Psychosis (Young People)” and every word he spoke came straight from Ms Brett’s library of cod science, misinformation, inaccuracy and, it has to be said, deliberate untruths.  He reached the nadir of his parliamentary career when he suggested that snorting cocaine was better for children than cannabis.

So I have written to Mr Cameron again.  It really is time that he addresses this issue and gives a proper response.  It is shameful that our government appears so utterly incompetent on the entire drugs issue.  It is like a rabbit caught in headlights, scared stiff to say or do anything.  On hard drugs, it is clinging to an absurd objective of abstinence and abandoning the policy of harm reduction, now internationally recognised as the right way forward.  British drugs policy is a shambles.  We, the people are now the victims of a repressive and medieval regime which stops only just short of Iran, China, Malaysia and Singapore in its brutality and stupidity.  We are afflicted with a myopic determination to fritter away taxpayers’ money on a moral crusade based only on prejudice and propaganda.  As for the Liberal Democrats and their deafening silence on the subject, well, has any political force ever disgraced itself more thoroughly in shame and abject cowardice?

Dear Mr Cameron,

I refer to my earlier letters of 26th February, 9th and 16th March, 5th and 26th April 2011.  These concern the statements you made about cannabis in your Al Jazeera YouTube interview.

Your office replied to me on 3rd May 2011 stating “Your correspondence is currently under consideration”.  I have heard nothing since.

In the meantime, both Nadine Dorries and Charles Walker have made shockingly inaccurate and misleading statements about cannabis.  In Mr Walker’s case he made the dreadful mistake of suggesting it is safer to use cocaine than cannabis.  Leadership is desperately needed here.  Mr Cameron you, your party and the government need to start telling the truth about cannabis.

Most urgently you need to permit the prescription of medicinal cannabis by doctors.  It is cruel to deny what is now universally recognised as a safe and effective medicine to people in pain and suffering.  What right have politicians have to stand in the way of a doctor’s prescription?  This is a shameful policy that only makes the government look foolish.  If you are concerned about “sending the right message” then start by ending this now.  All that you need to do is instruct the Home Office drugs licensing department to grant an import licence when an application to import medicinal cannabis is supported by a doctor’s prescription.

I speak on behalf of millions of people in Britain who want to see a safer, more responsible cannabis policy that will care for the sick, protect children and the vulnerable, control quality and safety and stop surrendering billions every year to organised crime.

It is important to correct the statements made on YouTube.   Look how your example has led to even worse from Ms Dorries and Mr Walker.  Cannabis is not “very, very toxic” and there is only a very small risk of mental health problems.  Alcohol, tobacco and even energy drinks are much more damaging.

Please remember, cannabis was the second most popular question on Al Jazeera YouTube.  It matters to people.  They deserve to be told the truth and not pointed to tabloid scare stories.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Reynolds

Please write to your MP and send him or her a copy of my letter to David Cameron.  Ask him to ask Mr Cameron for an answer.

You can download and print a pdf of my letter here.

Cameron On Cannabis Part 7 - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

These people really do not understand how cannabis has a transformational effect on some peope’s lives.  They may have read about the endocannabinoid system but they don’t seem to have quite understood how important we now know it is to good health.

The central nervous system, the immune system, cardiovascular system, reproductive system, gastrointestinal and urinary tracts all contain cannabinoid receptors and are regulated by cannabinoids.  People who suffer from MS or Crohn’s or ME may well be suffering from an endocannabinoid deficiency.  We know that endocannabnoid production declines as we age, a process that may play an important role in the development of age-related and degenerative diseases such as atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease, arthritis, osteoporosis and possibly a number of cancers as well as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

So it is entirely logical that endocannabinoid levels should be supplemented with other sources of cannabinoids and the only source outside the human body is the cannabis plant.  For some people, such as my friend, this is the difference between a life worth living and a life of misery, disability and pain.

She was in despair because she really believed that if she went to her doctor, her consultant, her MP and through him to minsters of health and our leaders then eventually the logic and overwhemlming evidence of her case would be heard.  She believed that because she lives in Britain, a land of justice and freedom and truth, those in power, in a system she trusts, would respond properly to her needs.

I was sad but not surprised to see her so disillusioned.  She had been reading the stories of others who have come before her, some of whom have now passed, who have experienced the same hope and then been crushed by spineless, careless and weak politicians.  Even those who have some reforming instinct are restrained by the cold hand of prohibition which lurks in the Home Office.  In the corridors of Marsham Street there is a malevolent, bigoted and stubborn group that denies any progress even in the face of cast iron proof.

Even while the government’s chief drugs advisor is a passionate advocate of medicinal cannabis, the government’s ludicrous, official line is that it has no medicinal benefits.  Our prime minister, who has himself indulged recreationally, who only recently advocated “radical options” on cannabis, now speaks blatant untruths and promotes misinformation.  In his footsteps follow utter fools like Nadine Dorries, blathering nonsense about issues clearly far beyond her understanding and Charles “Cocaine For Kids” Walker, possibly the most dangerous speaker in the drugs debate in Britain ever.

Baroness Browning, the new drugs minister, has now shown herself to be just another mindless puppet of prohibition.  She fails to respond to correspondence and when pressed just repeats the tired, inane and false Home Office gibberish of old.

We need to do more than just seek to persuade.  It is evident from not just the government’s but all our politicans’ pathetic, non-existent response to the Global Commission’s initiative, that we are led by donkeys and cheated by monkeys.  Our leaders are irresponsible and inadequate.  We must force their hand.

We need to take the issue of the denial of medicinal cannabis before the courts.  The process is clear.  I first set it out in Legal Opportunities For Medicinal Cannabis Users.  It is now part of CLEAR’s strategy.  The campaign is Legal Remedies.  The time is NOW!

If you are a medicinal user of cannabis, please join with us.  We will aim to co-ordinate a doctor’s prescription for you for Bedrocan (medicinal cannabis produced under the auspices of the Dutch government).  We will assist you in applying to the Home Office for an import licence to obtain your medicine.   We will then seek to bring an action for judicial review in the High Court of the refusal to issue such licences.  The more that join together in this, the  more chance we have of success.

I cannot promise quick results.  Your own GP has “prescriber rights” which fully entitle him or her to write you out a prescription for Bedrocan today – but few are prepared to do so.  This may mean that we need to organise an overseas trip to Holland, Belgium, Spain or Italy where we can find doctors who will help.  We will need to do this in a way that enables even the most disabled to travel.  We may then need to raise a great deal of money to hire lawyers of the calibre we need.

What I can promise is that I and all those involved in CLEAR and all its resources will concentrate on this and that if we follow it all the way through, we have a good chance of success.

Please step forward in your own and others’ interests.  Register to be part of this by sending an email to legalremedies@clear-uk.org.   Include your name, email address, telephone number and the condition you treat with cannabis.  It is the first step on a long but worthwhile journey.

Legal Remedies – A Call To Action. - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

Baroness Angela Browning

I wrote to Baroness Browning back on 16th May shortly after she was appointed as the new drugs minister.   You can read that first part of this story here: A Welcome Note To The New Drugs Minister

I wrote to her again today.

Dear Baroness Browning,

I am very sorry that you didn’t bother even to acknowledge my email of 16^th May 2011 (copy attached) in which I welcomed you to your new ministerial role and asked for a meeting to discuss policy on cannabis..

However, I have now seen a copy of your reply of 16^th June 2011 to Dr Hywel Francis, MP to my friend and colleague on the CLEAR executive committee, Des Humphrey.

You will recall that Des is a British Army veteran who was injured on active service and is now confined to a wheelchair.  The medicinal use of cannabis has transformed his health and rescued him from the highly toxic pharmaceuticals which he was prescribed.  Cannabis has literally saved his life.

Your response “Whilst I understand the reasons that have led Mr Humphrey to use cannabis, I cannot condone this unlawful activity” is, to say the least, inappropriate and unsympathetic.  Even the most rabid supporters of prohibition acknowledge that medicinal use of cannabis should be permitted.  Your repetition of the same inane, tired and scientifically inaccurate words that the Home Office has been churning out for years is deeply insulting to a man who has sacrificed so much for his country.  This is a cruel and irresponsible policy.

Des, of course, is not alone.  There are tens of thousands of people in Britain using cannabis as medicine and for many of them, it has quite dramatic results.  What possible justification can you have for dismissing the case for medicinal use?  What harm could it possibly do for you to permit people like Des to receive the medicine that their doctors want to prescribe?

This is an indefensible position for which there is no excuse.  It is clear that within the Home Office there is an obstinate and stubborn group that refuses to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence of the medicinal benefits of cannabis.  Ministers come and go but this out of touch and truly evil policy persists.  You duty here is not to the bureaucracy but to the people of Britain.  I urge you to take immediate steps to permit the prescription of medicinal cannabis by doctors.

Bedrocan BV the Dutch government’s contracted producer of medicinal cannabis offers a range of products with various THC/CBD ratios for different conditions.  These are grown under very stringent conditions and offer standardised dosage for ingestion by an infusion similar to tea, in food or with a medical vaporiser.  All that you need to do is authorise the Home Office drugs licensing department to grant an import licence when an application is supported by a doctor’s prescription.

There really is no justification for any further delay or for prolonging the suffering of those who need cannabis as medicine.

Cannabis is NOT a harmful drug compared to the pharmaceuticals commonly prescribed for the sort of chronic pain that Des suffers from or for MS, Crohn’s disease, fibromyalgia or other conditions for which cannabis is very, very effective. I know that Professor Les Iversen, your chief drugs advisor will confirm this.

The mental health scare story is a deception.  Again, in comparison with prescription drugs and other medicines as well as substances like alcohol, tobacco, energy drinks and even coffee, the risks of cannabis to mental health are tiny.  For people suffering from the sort of diseases I have mentioned, the risks are simply insignificant.  These are the facts and it is time for the Home Office to stop scaremongering and promoting misinformation.  You say the ACMD’s 2008 report on cannabis did “not indicate that there were any medicinal benefits” but I have a letter from Professor Iversen, dated 14^th December 2010, in which he says “the ACMD…is not constituted to consider the medical benefits of any drug”.  This is just another excuse.

Baroness Browning, it really is time to draw this absurd pretence to a close.  I would not use the words “cruel” and “evil” without proper consideration but they are an entirely accurate description of the Home Office policy on medicinal cannabis.  In all conscience, you cannot allow this shameful and scandalous denial of medicine to continue.

I am asking you again to meet with me and delegation of medicinal cannabis users who will explain to you first hand the enormous relief that cannabis provides and how it allows them to lead full and productive lives.  Please will your grasp this nettle and show some mercy and compassion for these people?  Please will you arrange a meeting?

Yours sincerely,

Peter Reynolds

Baroness Browning On Cannabis Part 2 - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

By Ian Malley, Cannazine Cannabis News

While PM  David ‘I demand a private life’ Cameron and his deputy Nick ‘I-dont-care-as-long-as-I keep-my-job’ Clegg ramp up their action against otherwise law abiding UK citizens whose only crime is to grow their own cannabis, new evidence from the United States suggests the reason prohibition is so harshly enforced in the UK is to make way for the pharmaceutical industry. And on the strength of the evidence available to us its hard to deny the probability that this could indeed be true.

It’s an accusation once made of the oil companies who stood to lose so much money if industrial hemp was allowed to be grown and sold on the open market.

It wasn’t, and now the Pacific ocean is filling up with the scrap plastics produced as a by-product of petroleum exploration. And similarly, as a result of heavy interest in the pharmaceutical industry, the cannabis situation in the United Kingdom is now more mixed up and ambiguous than ever before.

Scott Paplowski Owes His Life To Cannabis.

Cannabis Conundrum
On the one hand we have a product which is far, far safer than either tobacco or alcohol, yet the UK government insists on sending mini-vans full of tactical police to UK citizens’ homes in the hope of finding just enough cannabis to make a joint, which then justifies the damage caused by gaining entry.

The unfortunate citizen has not a foot to stand on. If cannabis exists in the premises, the police have carte blanche to gain entry causing as much damage as is necessary to make the arrest.

Leaving the home-dweller with a repair ‘tax’ which can run to thousands of pounds.

Click here for Scott Paplowski’s story

Kathy Reynolds Believes Cannabis Helped Her Beat Breast Cancer. As Do Her Specialist Consultants.

In the meantime GW Pharmaceuticals runs a cannabis grow operation in the south of England covering hectares of ground with glass, growing over 30,000 cannabis plants per crop.

Cannabis which the Conservative government tells us has no medical worth. So why invest so heavily to grow it if it’s worthless?

The truth is of course it’s far from worthless. It’s worth quite literally billions of dollars a year, which is why the government simply cannot have people growing their own willy-nilly as the revenue hit is too much to even begin to calculate.

Click here for Kathy Reynolds’ story

Medicinal Cannabis in America

In America Obama’s administration has gone one step further. Or rather, 55 steps further as its been announced 55 companies in the US now hold government issued permits to grow medicinal cannabis.

The Drug Enforcement Administration told Legalization Nation in an e-mail last week that 55 unnamed companies now hold licenses to grow cannabis in the United States.

A fact that contradicts the widespread belief that there is only one legal pot farm in America, operated under the DEA for research purposes.

Julie Falco Uses Cannabis To Help Fight The Symptoms Of Incurable Multiple Sclerosis.

Marinol = $$$$

It appears as if the upswing in federally approved pot farming is about feeding the need of pharmaceutical companies who want to produce a generic version of THC pill Marinol and at least one other cannabis-based pill for a wide variety of new uses.

In other words, if big corporations grow dope with the government and put it in a pill, it’s medicine.

But if you grow it at home or at a city-permitted pot farm and then put it in a vaporizer, it’s a felony.

>Read Julie Falco’s story here.

It’s a weird piece of news that comes at a strange and contradictory time for the drug war.

As US attornies send threatening letters to states and cities, including Oakland, warning them against “commercial cultivation” of marijuana, the DEA is quietly handing out licenses for commercial cultivation.

Clearly, governments on both sides of the pond are having a laugh and they’re doing so at your and at my expense.

Civil disobedience in an ugly brute at the best of times but as countless activists have found out it brings news column inches to a cause struggling for publicity amidst the hypocrisy of politics and big business .

For instance, when a single citizen gets his or her home raided by the police, who go on to find perhaps a few grams of cannabis, that citizen can feel very alone without the regularly-preached-to-choir to back them up.

But if 10, or 100 citizens report themselves to the police for growing cannabis in every major town or city, the judicial system would clog up in an instant.

I’m ready to give up my liberty in a bid to expose the hypocrisy of the cannabis situation in the UK and I know of plenty others who are prepared too.

Its time for some action, as other means simply don’t work or are ignored, by the people who YOU voted for.

How does THAT work in a country supposedly run along the lines of a democracy?

Cannabis Con Becomes Cannabis Lies - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party

—– Original Message —–
From: Peter Reynolds
To: lansleya@parliament.uk
Cc: howef@parliament.uk
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 4:17 PM
Subject: Medicinal Cannabis

Dear Mr Lansley,

Today I received the email below from Eldon Gallagher of the Customer Service Centre at the Department of Health in reply to my email to you of 13th April 2011 (also reproduced below).

This is a quite dreadful response which completely fails to address the content of my email. In fact, it seems to have nothing to with the questions I asked at all. Has my email even been read?

This is simply unacceptable Mr Lansley. My email was very carefully considered and as the leader of Cannabis Law Reform, I represent the interests of a considerable body of opinion which is entitled to your proper attention.

This is an urgent matter which involves the unnecessary suffering of many thousands of British citizens. Medicinal cannabis also offers potential savings to the NHS of many millions on expensive and highly toxic pharmaceutical products. Sativex is a form of medicinal cannabis which has many disadvantages, not least its outrageous cost and its alcohol content. It is completely unsuitable for many patients and health authorities simply can’t afford it.

I would be grateful if you would take the time to read my original email and give me a proper response.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Reynolds

—– Original Message —–
From: DoNotReply@dh.gsi.gov.uk
To: peter@peter-reynolds.co.uk
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 10:26 AM
Subject: Response to your Query : – Ref:DE00000609584 – Reply RE: Medicinal Cannabis

Dear Mr Reynolds,

Thank you for your email of 13 April to Andrew Lansley about the availability of cannabis-based pain relief medications, such as Sativex.

As you will appreciate, Mr Lansley is currently very busy, and I am afraid that he will not be able to commit to a meeting with you at present.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an executive agency of the Department of Health, is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices available in the UK work properly and are acceptably safe. Doctors must be confident about the products they prescribe and the MHRA will only grant a marketing authorisation (a licence) for any product once it is satisfied that it is safe, effective and of an acceptable quality for use in the UK.

The MHRA granted a marketing authorisation to the company GW Pharma Limited on 16 June for the medicinal product Sativex Oromucosal Spray. This is a prescription-only medicine used to improve symptoms relating to multiple sclerosis. More information on the assessment report for this product and the marketing authorisation is available on the MHRA’s website and can be accessed by entering ‘Sativex’ into the search bar and selecting the link dated 21 June 2010.

Although Sativex has been licensed for use in the indication outlined above, it can be prescribed to meet the special needs of individual patients outside of the licensed indication(s). Under the Medicines Legislation, doctors can prescribe a licensed medicine for another use but they do so entirely on their own responsibility and are fully liable for the patient’s welfare. The decision to prescribe a particular medicine is for the prescriber concerned.

In 2006, the Home Office issued a general licence allowing doctors to prescribe Sativex, pharmacies to dispense it, and patients to have it in their possession, without the requirement to be individually licensed by the Home Office.

People who feel that they would benefit from this medicine should contact their GP for advice and support in obtaining Sativex.

I hope this reply is helpful.

Yours sincerely,

Eldon Gallagher
Customer Service Centre
Department of Health

—– Original Message —–
From: Peter Reynolds
To: lansleya@parliament.uk
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 1:54 PM
Subject: Medicinal Cannabis

Dear Mr Lansley,

Medicinal Cannabis

I am writing to you about the urgent necessity to permit the prescribing of medicinal cannabis by doctors.

Please do not refer me to the Home Office. Its intransigent position on the subject amounts to a scandalous denial of science and cruel mistreatment of hundreds of thousands of British citizens. This is a health issue which requires your attention and care for those in pain and suffering.

There is now an overwhelming body of peer reviewed, published research that proves beyond doubt the efficacy of medicinal cannabis for the treatment of many conditions. Britain is becoming increasingly isolated as a place where patients are denied access to the medicine they need. Utterly absurd is that patients from the EU can bring medicinal cannabis into Britain under the protection of the Schengen Agreement but British residents risk prison for using exactly the same substance.

Every country in Europe except France and Britain now has some form of medicinal cannabis provision. 15 US states now permit medical marijuana on a doctor’s recommendation and Israel has a fast expanding programme. There are huge cost savings and benefits to be gained and enormous reductions in harm from side effects of poisonous pharmaceutical products.
There are already many instances in Britain where MS patients have been refused Sativex on cost grounds and so have been forced into illegal purchase or cultivation and have then been prosecuted as criminals. This is a shame and disgrace on our nation and I appeal to you to take steps to end it.

Perhaps you do not realise the transformational effect that medicinal cannabis can have on some people’s lives? Almost miraculous results are being achieved, particularly with MS, Crohn’s and fibromyalgia. People who would otherwise be trapped by pain and disability are able to lead productive lives with the help of medicinal cannabis.

Please Mr Lansley, will you arrange to meet me and a delegation of people whose lives are literally saved by the use of medicinal cannabis? This cruel and demeaning policy cannot be allowed to continue in the face of overwhelming evidence. Safe, high quality, standardised dose cannabis is now available from Bedrocan in Holland, the Dutch government’s supplier and is exported all over Europe to fill doctors’ prescriptions. How much longer must British citizens wait?

Co-ordinated action is already underway for dozens of patients to take the Home Office to judicial review for its refusal to grant import licenses for Bedrocan. This is at huge cost in public money and people’s lives. You could take steps to end this suffering now. You could enable the NHS to start making huge cost savings immediately. This issue is not going away.

CLEAR is a new team of committed professionals that is determined to bring this issue to the top of the political agenda. Please arrange to meet me and learn at first hand how much good you could do by a change of policy that is, in any case, inevitable. Don’t make those people in pain and suffering wait any longer.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Reynolds

An Appeal To Andrew Lansley Part 2 - CLEAR UK: Cannabis Law Reform Party