AS THE wider world increasingly embraces the medicinal use of cannabis, the UK seems determined to drag its knuckles.
The confiscation of 12-year-old Billy Caldwell鈥檚 cannabis oil, used to treat his epilepsy, at Heathrow airport was a clear instance of an outdated approach, where prohibition overrides everything else 鈥� compassion, scientific evidence and common sense.
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To be fair to the airport officials, they were only following orders. In the UK, cannabis is a schedule 1 drug, a designation used for those with no therapeutic value. They are illegal to possess or prescribe.
Cannabis鈥檚 status should be enough to discredit the law. The fact that schedule 1 includes MDMA and LSD, both increasingly seen as useful psychiatric medicines, emphasises the backwardness of the UK鈥檚 drug laws.
Many MPs 鈥� including health secretary Jeremy Hunt 鈥� have called for a rethink on medicinal cannabis, and Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced that its legal status will be reviewed (see 鈥�UK government to review medicinal cannabis laws鈥�). That is welcome progress, but only a start. Control of UK drug law should be confiscated from politicians and handed to the Department of Health.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淒rug law needs a reboot鈥�
