Baroness Scotland of Asthal: ...so that we do not have the current level of recidivism. I say to the right reverend Prelate that we do not seek to increase the number of arrestable offences. At the moment possession of cannabis is an arrestable offence. It is right when looking at the level of offences to bear in mind that possession of class C drugs is at the moment capable of being an offence for which people are dealt...
Bob Ainsworth: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an agency of the Department of Health, is currently evaluating the safety, quality and effectiveness of a medical preparation of a cannabis-based drug developed and extensively tested by GW Pharmaceuticals. This assessment by the MHRA is one which all prospective new medicines have to go through and is designed to protect public...
Lord Alton of Liverpool: .... I have known his family for the best part of 20 years. His is not an isolated case. A few weeks earlier a 10 year-old girl from Ellel in Lancashire died after taking Ecstasy. Joseph began with cannabis and ended with heroin. Legalisation would not have saved his life. The American Academy of Paediatrics says that weekly users of cannabis are 60 times more likely to progress to harder...
Bob Ainsworth: GW Pharmaceuticals has completed its advanced clinical trials on the development of a medical preparation of a cannabis-based drug. A dossier of those findings has been submitted to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency—an agency of the Department of Health—for evaluation. The assessment is one that all prospective new medicines must go through, and it is designed to...
Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what assessment he has made of the prevalence of use of cannabis by 11 to 18-year-olds, and if he will make a statement; (2) what recent representations he has received from residents of the London borough of Lambeth on the Metropolitan Police Service's response to persons found to be in possession of cannabis; and if he will make a...
Mr Nick Hawkins: ...available. They need not be used very often. Finally, I should like to correct a particularly unwise statement made, sadly, by the hon. Member for Ludlow. He said that people who are taking only cannabis are simply quiescent and soporific. If he looks at the medical evidence that has been highlighted in recent weeks, he will see that the propensity to suffer from schizophrenia is...
Baroness Walmsley: ...in every five who dies in road accidents has some sort of drug in their system. Knowingly or unknowingly, many people are driving under the influence of drugs which have very serious effects. Cannabis extends the perception of time and amphetamines shorten it. Both can affect response times. Amphetamines can make a person more confident and aggressive—an unfortunate attitude when you are...
Bob Ainsworth: We will seek Parliament's agreement to amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 to permit the manufacture and use of a specified cannabis-based medicine under prescription, if the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), an agency of the Department of Health, grants marketing approval later this year to the medical preparation of cannabis developed and extensively tested by GW Pharmaceuticals. The...
Bob Ainsworth: We will seek Parliament's agreement to amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 to permit the manufacture and use of a specified cannabis-based medicine under prescription, if the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), an agency of the Department of Health, grants marketing approval later this year to the medical preparation of cannabis developed and extensively tested by GW Pharmaceuticals. The...
Mr Nick Hawkins: ...to by, one or more drivers being under the influence of drugs, or of drink and drugs. I should stress that we have also had enormous support from the AA, the RAC Foundation and the British Medical Association, all of which—like the shadow Home Secretary, my right hon. Friend the Member for West Dorset (Mr. Letwin), myself and the rest of the shadow Home Office team—have pursued this...
Andy Kerr: ...Early Education and Childcare £4,147.25 Scottish Transport Appraisal Binder £9,166.00 Supplementary Medical Lists Consultation £2,759.75 Discipline in Schools - Task Group Summary £17,612.00 Fish Industry Guide -...
Hugh Henry: Press reports yesterday indicated the serious concerns about the medical problems that are caused by cannabis. The report said that, in cannabis users, "the air sacs in the lung which permit the transfer of oxygen into the blood ... have been displaced by big cysts ... cutting the lung's function by up to a third and crowding the chest cavity. Sometimes the effect is a collapsed lung." It is...
Bob Ainsworth: GW Pharmaceuticals have completed their advanced clinical trials into the development of a medical preparation of a cannabis-based drug and are preparing to submit a dossier of their findings to the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), an agency of the Department of Health, for evaluation in the near future. This assessment by the MCA is one which all prospective new medicines have to go through...
David Cameron: ...Bermondsey. I sat on the Home Affairs Committee, and it might be useful if I explain why we thought that it was necessary to reclassify various drugs. The Select Committee listened to expert and medical evidence and spoke to the parents of children who had died from drug abuse. We heard many hours of evidence and went into a huge amount of detail. We decided that class A should cover the...
David Heath: We have already had half the debate, so there is no point in going over old ground. The hon. Member for Beaconsfield made an important point that he somewhat dulled by his assertions on cannabis, which were questioned by the hon. Member for Witney and others. They were unhelpful in the prosecution of his case. There was a moment of danger that in a Committee dominated by lawyers the medics...
Lord Waddington: asked Her Majesty's Government: Whether in the light of new evidence published in the British Medical Journal dated 23rd November 2002 they believe that the use of cannabis increases the risk of schizophrenia.
Angela Watkinson: ...overcrowded to accommodate all the burglars, the answer is to increase the number of police on our streets and to build more prisons, not to make burglary a non-crime, which is what happened with cannabis possession. When I opposed the downgrading of the law on cannabis in the Home Affairs Committee report on drugs policy, I asked, tongue in cheek, how long it would be before the strategy...
Hugh Henry: Guidance to medical professionals, Managing Incidental Drug Misuse and Alcohol Problems in Mental Health Care Settings , recommends that drug misuse is covered in assessments of patients with mental health problems. The Guidelines on Clinical Management of Drug Misuse and Dependence recommend that psychiatric issues should form part of assessments of patients seeking help with drug problems....
Bill Aitken: ...can be ignorant about the effects not only of drugs that have been properly prescribed but of illegal drugs. It may seem illogical to us sitting here that someone who would take cocaine or smoke cannabis for the purpose of feeling more relaxed or being on a high should at the same time not realise that such drugs must inevitably impair their driving. However, it is clear that many people...
Simon Hughes: ...the same place for some 20 years. I have talked to DrugScope and lots of other charities, as has the hon. Gentleman. The reality is that of course some people move on and become addicted, but the medical evidence—I am not a doctor—is that the harmful effects of cannabis and its addictive qualities are not in the same league as drugs at the top of the danger league. That is the medical...