United Kingdom: obstruction of plans to legalize medical cannabis

Last Friday, the British Parliament was to host the second reading of the bill to legalize medical cannabis, by MP Paul Flynn. But the hearing was postponed after discussions on other subjects, no less important than the protection of eider ducks, dragged on.

Sick people and supporters of cannabis law reform had gathered en masse in front of Westminster, as they had done in the past.he first reading of the text. The proposed text seeks to legalize the medical use of cannabis in the UK.

The MPs turned a deaf ear to MP Flynn's numerous requests to speed up speeches on other subjects to allow the cannabis bill to be heard.

I intervened politely as possible on speech by Sandi from Ipswich that is eating into time available for cannabis bill

- Paul Flynn (@PaulFlynnMP) February 23, 2018

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They even extended their speaking time as much as possible on more or less important subjects, as noted by the London Economic, Paul Flynn, 83 and in a wheelchair, had to travel outside Parliament in the cold to explain to his supporters what was going on.

«To my shame, my party ... voted to sabotage this bill today,« Mr. Flynn told the rally organized by the United Patients Alliance, one of the UK's leading medical cannabis advocacy groups, as reported by by Leafly.

«We have seen the absolute cruelty and absurdity of cannabis laws» in the case of’Alfie Dingley, a six-year-old epileptic who had to travel to the Netherlands to gain access to cannabis oil, he added. He accused his fellow MPs of having a «heart of stone».

MPs from the two main parties have cooperated to obstruct the second reading of the bill, which has now been postponed until July 6 at the earliest.

Paul Flynn and his Welsh colleague Tonia Antoniazzi have apologized to Alfie's family and all those who could have benefited from access to medical cannabis for not being able to take this project forward.

Paul Flynn also points to conflicts of interest within the Home Office, in the person of Victoria Atkins, who is in charge of medicines and is married to Mr Kenward, a cannabis producer for the Home Office. GW Pharmaceuticals.

«Giving a few drops of cannabis to a young boy isn't going to trigger a crime wave. But we have a Conservative Party spokeswoman who is married to someone who works for GW Pharmaceuticals who sells cannabis at an exorbitant price. That's why the Minister of Health didn't respond to the debate in the House of Commons.»

He insists: «We have evidence of 5000 years of cannabis use on every continent of the planet. If there was any evidence that it was dangerous, we'd know about it. And we have pharmaceutical drugs that are approved and killing people on an industrial scale.’

«But we have a corrupt drug regulatory system that is run by Big Pharma, not Big Science, us. There's a difference. How can you respect a party that manages in the Commons the treatment of a young boy and all people with multiple sclerosis as if it were a repressive issue.»