§ Vera BairdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to legalise the use of cannabis for pain relief in disease. [105827]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthWe will seek Parliament's agreement to amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 to permit the manufacture and use of a specified cannabis-based medicine under prescription, if the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), an agency of the Department of Health, grants marketing approval later this year to the medical preparation of cannabis developed and extensively tested by GW Pharmaceuticals. The MCA's evaluation of safety, quality and effectiveness of the preparation is one which all prospective new medicines have to go through and is designed to protect public health.
Such legislative change would not legalise the use of cannabis as such for therapeutic purposes.
The scheduling of prescribed cannabis-based medicine under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 will shortly be considered by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, which will make recommendations.
§ Vera BairdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether it is intended that possession of prescribed cannabis medicines will be an offence contrary to the Misuse of Drugs Acts. [106109]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthWe will seek Parliament's agreement to amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 to permit the manufacture and use of a specified cannabis-based medicine under prescription, if the Medicines Control Agency (MCA), an agency of the574W Department of Health, grants marketing approval later this year to the medical preparation of cannabis developed and extensively tested by GW Pharmaceuticals. The MCA's evaluation of safety, quality and effectiveness of the preparation is one which all prospective new medicines have to go through and is designed to protect public health.