Cannabis

Debate between Baroness Meacher and Lord Young of Cookham

Monday 12th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Meacher]

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have plans to revisit the inclusion of cannabis in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, in the light of claims regarding its medicinal significance.

[Lord Young of Cookham (Con)]

My Lords—

[Lord Young of Cookham]

This is a bit like “Mastermind”, but on somebody else’s specialist subjects.

The World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence has committed to reviewing the scheduling of cannabis under the United Nations 1961 convention. This is due to consider the therapeutic use as well as dependence and the potential to abuse constituent parts of cannabis. This will be a key report to inform the Government’s position on this issue, which, as with any government policy, we will keep under review.

[Baroness Meacher (CB)]

My Lords, when most of the western world recognises that cannabis has significant medicinal value, and when Germany recently legalised cannabis for no fewer than 57 indications, in the UK, which remains miles behind everybody else, we have cannabis in Schedule 1 and therefore defined as a dangerous drug with no—I underline no—medicinal value. Will the Minister work with his colleagues to bring this issue forward as a matter of urgency rather than waiting years for the WHO report—I know the WHO somewhat and it takes a little time? That would save the incredible suffering—I have met so many people suffering deeply—of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people up and down the country.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

The noble Baroness is a long-standing campaigner for drugs reform. I listened to her exchange a few days ago with my noble friend Lady Williams on this very subject. When I saw officials last week, I pressed them hard on the medical advice. The professional advice of medical experts in this country is that cannabis in its raw form has no medicinal value, which is why it is a Schedule 1 drug and subject to strict controls. I am very reluctant as a layman to second-guess those officials. However, the noble Baroness referred last time to the moving case of Alfie Dingley. The Home Office will do all it can within the framework of the current legislation to ensure that Alfie gets the treatment he needs

Contaminated Blood

Debate between Baroness Meacher and Lord Young of Cookham

Monday 29th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

The noble Lord asks a question that is right at the extremity of my familiarity with the subject, but I looked it up and the noble Lord is quite right. There was an independent inquiry in the early 2000s by the former Solicitor-General for England and Wales, Lord Archer. I understand that it held no legal or official status at all. It was unable to subpoena witnesses or demand the disclosure of documents, but it looked at some of the issues and discovered that some important documents had been destroyed. There were issues of missing evidence. After he reported, Lord Jenkin, who was also a former Secretary of State, voiced his difficulties about obtaining documents for the inquiry. That inquiry is available and will be available to the statutory inquiry. I hope that it will be able to build on some of the work that Lord Archer undertook.

[Baroness Meacher (CB)]

My Lords, can the Minister assure the House that the different groups of sufferers within this community will all be consulted by the chair and the panel? There are widows, people who are still suffering, people with HIV and people who do not have HIV and they have all been treated differently and in many cases grossly inadequately over the years. This is one of the concerns. People do not want the Haemophilia Society to be the one group that is consulted, because people from these different situations want to speak for themselves. I would like to think that the Haemophilia Society reflects everyone’s interests, but I absolutely respect the wishes of the different groupings. That assurance would be very helpful to them.

[Lord Young of Cookham]

I am very happy to give that assurance to the noble Baroness. As she may know, there were more than 800 responses to the consultation that we launched in July, which concluded in October, so it is quite clear that there is a substantial body of people who take an interest in the subject and have already made representations. I am sure that the chair will want to consult with a wide range of people—survivors and relatives—before he or she finalises terms of reference.