UK Drugs Tsar Seems To Endorse Medical Marijuana,
Calls It "The Herb,"
But Things Are Not Always What They Seem.

(Marijuananews note: He has made similar noises in the past, but this seems to be one more step in the right direction.
See
UK Drug Tsar Seems To Back Medical Marijuana: "No government would block legalisation on its use."
Yes, They Do!
However, he also makes reference to "research." Does this mean clinical trials on real patients, or a few more decades of stalling with stoned rats? Can he ever be pinned down on this?

Of course, this is what the Lords committee called for last year, and the government rejected it. Now after the IOM report, which was inferior to the Lords’, he may think that they have more wiggle room with DEAland.)
See
Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
Criticizes UK Government’s Rejection Of Report On Medical Marijuana
– 2 Articles With 2 of the Worst Prohibitionist Arguments

From the London Times
March 31 1999
letters@the-times.co.uk
http://www.the-times.co.uk/

Anti-drugs chief backs ‘medicinal’ cannabis

By Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

THE medical use of cannabis won the backing of the Government’s chief anti-drugs campaigner yesterday. Keith Hellawell, a former chief constable, said doctors should be allowed to prescribe the class B drug to ease pain and suffering, provided the beneficial effects were proven by research.

"There appear to be many qualities within the herb that are likely to have an impact on different suffering," he told the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee.

(Marijuananews note: The use of the word "herb" – the Brits pronounce the "h" – seems significant.)

Mr Hellawell, UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordinator, recently visited a farm where cannabis is being grown for medical research under a special licence issued by the Home Office. Five thousand plants have been sown in a secure glasshouse in southern England.
See
It Is Almost Harvest Time In UK For First Medical Marijuana Crop; But It Can Only Be Used For "Research"
The Government allowed the trial because of increasing evidence that cannabis could be useful as a painkiller and in treating illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.
(Marijuananews note: There is not "increasing evidence that cannabis could be useful as a painkiller and in treating illnesses such as multiple sclerosis and epilepsy." That evidence has been there all along. What increased was the boldness of the patients who found out that the governments of the world are suppressing a safe and effective medication.)

Mr Hellawell also told MPs that the popularity of cannabis was declining among 15 to 25-year-olds because of its widespread use, and that smoking heroin was frequently the first choice of drug.
(Marijuananews note: Think what this does to the "Gateway Theory.")
See
Cannabis Use So Commonplace Among British Schoolchildren
That It Is No Longer Regarded As An Act Of Rebellion, UK Drugs Tsar Admits
and
The Wall Street Journal Responds To The IOM Report
By Having Califano Defend The "Gateway Theory"