The Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology – a division of the UK government, has recommended that the medicinal use of cannabis should be legalized. The committee also called for current research involving the development of cannabis-based drugs to be speeded-up so that patients could benefit as soon as possible. The report concluded: “In the absence of a viable alternative medicine – we consider it undesirable to prosecute genuine therapeutic users of cannabis who possess or grow cannabis for their own use.” The UK Medical Research Council recently granted £1.5-million to two trials investigating therapeutic uses of the drug. Sufferers of several diseases, including multiple sclerosis and arthritis, say cannabis helps to relieve pain.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.bbc.co.uk on the 22nd March 2001
