nhs.uk/conditions/medical-c...
I was back home in the UK recently, popped over to France (with it's notoriously strict drug laws), have to say that in France, I have never seen quite so many people smoking dope, openly, in public, in view of the police.
Back to East London. As usual, dope everywhere. Nobody seems to be bothered, least of all the police. Hard to catch people buying/selling/smoking on the street when you are largely absent.
But medical Marijuana is "legal" now. Except it isn't, is it?
That lady, the mother of little Charlie Adlard. She brazenly imported it into England. Declared what she had done, and it was promptly seized. Her boy was given an exemption from the law (eventually, after she complained nothing was getting done). That's right, the Home Office granted an exemption for a Class B drug, with zero medical value (in their opinion), to a child.
But "legal" since late last year, it finally is.
Looking at the government policy now, and prescribing guidelines. Here we go -
Drawn up by the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal Paediatric Neurology Association, the guidelines say cannabis products can only be used as a last resort, and that patients with MS and chronic pain are unlikely to get prescriptions. In fact, the guidelines state baldly that: "Very few people in England are likely to get a prescription for medical cannabis."
That'll be you and me out of the equation, then.
But, even if you qualify, what do you get? Here we go -
Nabilone for chemotherapy patients.
Licenced in the UK. Prescribed to help with chemotherapy sickness and vomiting.
Nabiximols (Sativex) for MS
It is licensed in the UK for people with MS-related muscle spasticity that hasn't got better with other treatments, that'll be you and me (except we don't have MS)
But its availability on the NHS is limited. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend that NHS doctors prescribe Sativex, as it is not cost effective (which means it costs an arm and a leg).
It is so expensive because despite marijuana being a natural product, this is a patented form, and thus they the drug company that developed it can charge whatever it likes.
How do you get a prescription?
You cannot get cannabis-based medicine from your GP – it can only be prescribed by a specialist hospital doctor.
And it is only likely to be prescribed for a small number of patients.
A hospital specialist might consider prescribing medical cannabis if:
your child has one of the rare forms of epilepsy that might be helped by medical cannabis
you have spasticity from MS and treatments for this aren't helping
you have vomiting or feel sick from chemotherapy and anti-sickness treatments aren't helping
The specialist will discuss with you all the other treatment options first, before considering a cannabis-based product.
A prescription for medical cannabis would only be given when it was believed to be in your best interests, and when other treatments hadn't worked or weren't suitable.
It's expected this would only apply to a very small number of people in England. The other countries of the UK have their own prescribing guidelines, haven't looked yet.
Possessing cannabis is illegal, whatever you're using it for. That includes medical use unless it has been prescribed for you. I am trying to find statistics for the numbers of people who are prescribed any form of marijuana, but cannot find any. For obvious reasons. hardly anyone is getting any. To get political, we have a Tory government (though New Labour would be no different). The Prime Minister, Theresa May, when she was Home Secretary, brutally tightened the law on "legal highs", she even restricted the law on Tramadol, which has no recreational value. The numbers of people who are dying from the newer and newer forms of synthetic THC keeps rising, when the original, God-made variety never killed nobody. No, not no one, never not no.
So, we have a PM, who, as Home Secretary, styled herself as tough as you can be on drugs, is now PM. She then relaxes the rules (though, importantly, not the law) so a child can be prescribed a dangerous drug with absolutely no medical value at all (UK government opinion on marijuana). This is without any data on the use of marijuana on children at all, yet fully grown adults cannot get it generally prescribed, despite there being a plethora of hard evidence from the USA. Madness. Welcome to UK drugs policy.
I am out of the UK now for a few months, but when I was there, i considered going to see Dr. Robin Lachmann and asking for a prescription, just to see what's what. Fully expecting a refusal, of course. I didn’t have the time, and I didn’t want to waste his.
As we all know, dope is still illegal under federal law in America, that notwithstanding, in the grand American tradition, folks are proceeding to get filthy rich selling what is effectively a herbal supplement with no medical value (like all supplements legally are worthless). Money talks, they’ll be forming lobby groups and sinking a few million into key politicians to keep their gravy train alive, oh yes.
Then again, this whole state’s rights could be loosely comparable to the UK situation, with local police areas (not call districts anymore, why not? Never mind) admitting that they have better things to do than arrest smokers and small-scale growers.
theguardian.com/society/201...
The commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, Cressida Dick recently admittedly she doesn’t even know what it smells like. Hmmm, I’m sure.
Course, this is simple possession. Try selling it, different story then.
I’ll get to my point now. If we ever wanted access to different formulations of marijuana for pain, spasticity, spasms, whatever, then we’d have to get organised with other disease sufferers. The status quo is hardly going to change otherwise.
I recall 80’s American drug policy, Nancy Reagan with her Just say no, saying she wanted to lock up every single drug area in America, through to now. A lot of people got organised, a lot of civil disobedience, a lot of referenda, demonstrations
fool.com/investing/2018/09/...
And it still isn’t even legal, not really.
But, when you elect your sheriff/judge/DA/politician, and you can force change with referenda, things can be more easily changed. Brexit has likely told the British establishment one thing – never give the British people a direct say in anything ever again, the views of ordinary people being so divergent from official policy. That said, they’d likely bring back hanging and forcibly castrate paedophiles if the UK people were given the vote. I’d vote no to the former, yes to the latter.
Tony Blair brought in that law about if so many people signed a petition, then Parliament would be obligated to debate it. Pure window dressing says I. What did that ever change?
Until people in wheelchairs keep regularly chaining themselves to the gates of No 10, I’ll wager nothing will change in UK drugs/prescribing policy. Take that statement to the bank.
But, THC/CBD, it is all about the ratios, and, of course, the dose and route of delivery. Some do better with more/less/none of one or the other, and in America folks are getting the chance to experiment, see what works best for them.
With the limited selection “available” in the UK, we have no such chance.
I’ll go on record right now. I used to smoke plenty of dope. Smoked it, sold it, grew it. All as a youth. Stopped, forgot all about it. Tried it again after about 18 years (I think), just as an experiment for my AMN. I went from around 3500 mg Gabapentin + 300mg Lyrica daily, to 3-600 mg Gabapentin. Takes the will of God to stop my spasms. The dope managed it. And (as I’ve said before), my legs feel excellent after smoking dope. Zero neuropathy. The pins-and-needles, the sponginess, the pain, all history. And no Benzo before bed either. Just a Melatonin and I sleep like a baby.
And, this is just weed I bought from my friend. No choice as to THC/CBD content. Though my neuropathy is of nothing compared to others amongst us. With a greater selection of medicine, and methods of delivery, we may all find some succour from this awful disease.
The old argument that even if it was available, it would somehow normalise it and it would leak out to recreational users is so flawed. There is hardly a shortage, is there? In fact, the restrictive law on Marijuana forced some to those synthetic forms of THC, Spice/Mamba/whatever, and they are killing people left and right.
I don’t live in England full-time. But, if I did, I’d grow it again. And no jury would send me down the river, not after this white, middle-class man has his say in court. Not the point, is it? It is a medicine, should be available to those in need. And, forget not that the patented forms “available” at the moment cost an absolute fortune, yet weed costs pennies to grow (with sunshine). Extract your own oil and vaporise if inhaling all that acrid, carcinogenic smoke isn't your thing.
That’s my overly long rant finished. For the record, I’d join in any civil disobedience for this, including chaining myself to Parliament. The amount of drugs I have (illegally) imported, this is frankly nothing to me and I have a personal stake in this. (for myself, and my fellow sufferers). Whatever works, works. That, is the end of the matter.
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Discuss.
