The UK Government denies self-obtained research into the medicinal benefits of Marijuana

I took the liberty of researching petitions to Legalize Marijuana in the UK. I was appalled when I found one that had the tagline: “Make the production, use and sale of cannabis legal” which then offered a concise list of positive influences the new law would bring. They claimed that it would create 10,000 new jobs for growing, distribution and sale, save £400 million per annum on policing expenses and generate over £900 million through taxation.

Petition

In a recent post I talked about the NHS websites declaration that cannabis could not be labeled a cause of schizophrenia. This was categorically stated through a worldwide research project that combined some of the greatest facilities from Australia to Washington. The petition exceeded the 100,000 ‘yes’ votes required for the matter to be considered seriously in the house of parliament. In fact they actually acquired 236,995 positive votes towards the amendment of what is without a doubt an antiquated piece of legislation.

Response

The official response, despite this research having been conducted in June 2014, stated that;

“Substantial scientific evidence shows cannabis is a harmful drug that can damage human health.

There are no plans to legalize cannabis as it would not address the harm to individuals and communities.”

They also claimed that legalization would “not address the harms associated with drug dependence and the misery that this can cause to families”. Try telling this to the alcohol dependent individuals that suffer debilitating deaths from addiction each year.

Schizophrenia

Each petition has several thousand positive votes, all of which have had near identical reasons in response as to why they will not proceed with legalization. The American government has shown a backbone in accepting that the drug has medicinal benefits. The UK remains unmoved and stubborn from accepting their own research and the concluded results that marijuana poses no physical threat to individuals unless predisposed to schizophrenia.

A recent study conducted by Daniele Piomelli, professor of pharmacology at the University of California-Irvine reached a startling result when comparing the use if CBD to amisulpride; a powerful antipsychotic with a string of unnerving side effects as you would expect to find with a prescription drug. Not only did they conclude that CBD was just as effective, it came with no other effects excluding the mild painkiller effect that could also treat billions in place of paracetamol.