UK - Charity to send bill for cannabis

[Lunar Loops]

This from disabilitynow.org.uk:
Charity to send bill for cannabis

Lisa McCarthy, December 2006
A leading drugs charity is to press for a new private members bill to try to legalise the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Release, a national charity which provides legal and drugs advice, says the bill will be at the heart of a campaign it will soon be launching to highlight the problems faced by disabled people who have to use the drug illegally to alleviate pain.
The new campaign is likely to give a fresh boost to DNÕs own campaign to legalise medicinal cannabis.
Niamh Eastwood, legal advisor at Release, said the bill would probably call for cannabis to be legalised for medicinal purposes; for a disabled person to be able to grow it in their own home; and for an exemption for medicinal use of the drug under the current Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
She said the charity currently receives one or two calls a week about forthcoming prosecutions of disabled people.
We would question whether it is appropriate to use the criminal justice system to prosecute people in those circumstances when cannabis has been recognised as an effective form of pain relief,Ó she said.
These are law abiding people and because of their illness they have no choice but to go down this road. As a result, they end up with a criminal record.
We want to see the law changed and will lobby the Director of Public Prosecutions to see this is done,Ó she added.
Ms Eastwood said the charity was looking at following the lead of other countries that have set up a centralised cannabis-growing organisation, and would pressure the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to licence the cannabis-based spray Sativex.