Cannabis: Government needs to wake up and change the law urges Roy

Roy Scott, 42, suffered an accident 19 years ago that left him with tetraplegic and suffering spasms that can throw him from his chair and leave him in pain.

He has 24-hour care and has long been calling for the use of medical cannabis to treat his condition.

With the national coverage of the Billy Caldwell case, the youngster who suffers severe epileptic seizures and had his cannabis oil taken from him at an airport, Mr Scott believes it is time to start talking about legalising medical cannabis for more treatments.

He is stuck in his home for most of the day, and believes medical cannabis will be hugely beneficial for him and thousands of others across the country.

He said: "With all the national coverage and talk of it at the moment, it is time to start talking about it.

"It is time to legalise the use of medical cannabis for a number of conditions. We are one of the largest exporters of medical cannabis yet we don't really use it for treatment.

"The highs are taken out by these companies produce it, the government needs to wake up and change the law on it.

"There was one case where someone went over to Europe, and by using it went from 100 seizures a day to one in 30 days.

"Something has to change and it is time to start talking."

A host of MPs have now raised the issue on the back of the recent national coverage.

Mr Scott has tried conventional treatments and others, including botox and even cannabis, and believes that the drug Sativex, given to patients with MS, could relieve his symptoms.

He said he would be willing to pay for medical cannabis, and says it is much safer than buying the drug from a dealer.

He added: "I would rather have medical cannabis, than go and smoke it to stop my seizures.

"It leaves you stoned and not able to do anything for a few hours, so it must be better having medical cannabis than having to do that."

He has contacted North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson on the issue in the past, and has contacted him again recently regarding the issue.

William Hague’s call on cannabis is rejected

Former Conservative leader William Hague was issued a firm rebuke from his own Government after calling for cannabis to be legalised.

The Home Office issued a flat rejection of Lord Hague’s arguments for the legalisation of cannabis.

In a blog post entitled Rebuttal, the department wrote: “The Home Office has been clear that there is strong scientific and medical evidence that cannabis is a harmful drug which can be detrimental to people’s mental and physical health.

“The Government has no intention of reviewing the classification of cannabis under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and it will remain a Class B drug.

“Any debate within government about the medicinal and therapeutic benefits of cannabis-based medicines does not extend to any review regarding the classification of cannabis and the penalties for the illicit possession, cultivation and trafficking of cannabis will remain the same.”

However yesterday Home Secretary Sajid Javid, speaking in the Commons, ordered a review into cannabis for medicinal use only.

Lord Hague, who lives in Cyfronydd Hall, near Llanfair Caereinion, with his wife Ffion, joined those who have urged a change of approach over the narcotic.

Writing an open letter, he said those who believe the drug can be “driven off the streets and out of people’s lives by the state is nothing short of deluded”.

His comments came after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt suggested “a different way” was needed following widespread outrage over the confiscation from mother Charlotte Caldwell of cannabis oil supplies which she brought from Canada for her 12-year-old son Billy, who has acute epilepsy.

After Billy was rushed to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on Friday night in a critical condition, having suffered multiple seizures.

The Home Secretary has granted an emergency licence allowing use of the oil for Billy.

On Monday, fellow Tory Crispin Blunt, who chairs the All-Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform, urged the Home Office to “clear out of the way” and let the Department of Health take control of policy on medical cannabis.

The Government announced a new expert panel of clinicians would be established to give swift advice on the prescription of cannabis-based medicines to individual patients.

The Home Office said the Government had no intention of reviewing the drug’s classification.

Lord Hague called for the party to rethink policy, saying the war against the drug had been lost.

He wrote: “Everyone sitting in a Whitehall conference room needs to recognise that, out there, cannabis is ubiquitous, and issuing orders to the police to defeat its use is about as up-to-date and relevant as asking the Army to recover the Empire.

“This battle is effectively over.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable backed calls for reform, saying decriminalising cannabis would be a “sensible step for the country to take”.

“The second step would be to look at the various experiences of legalisation to make absolutely sure that we do not produce an epidemic, that we actually control use very considerably,” he said.