§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how long the programme of testing and evaluation he requires before cannabis can be made available on prescription will take; and what procedures will have to be gone through. [60104]
§ Mr. George HowarthThe Government's view is that cannabis should not be available on prescription unless or until the safety, quality and efficacy of a medicinal form have been scientifically established and a marketing authorisation issued by the Medicines Control Agency. In order to satisfy those requirements, I understand from the Medicines Control Agency that a product based on cannabis would have to go through carefully designed clinical trials, a procedure which all prospective new medicines have to complete. How long such procedures would take would depend on precisely how the trials were undertaken and the results which began to emerge during them.