Medical Cannabis Debate

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Department: Home Office

Medical Cannabis

Rupa Huq Excerpts
Tuesday 20th February 2018

(6 years, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Nick Hurd Portrait Mr Hurd
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I am certainly happy to meet that group, or a more appropriate Minister could, so the answer is yes.

Rupa Huq Portrait Dr Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) (Lab)
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I wonder whether the Minister knows the book “The Boy in 7 Billion”, by Callie Blackwell, the mum of Deryn Blackwell who, at the age of 10, was diagnosed with a very rare cancer and then, through the use of cannabis oil, made a miraculous recovery. If he likes, I can lend him my copy. I got one over recess at THTC, a company in my constituency that makes hemp t-shirts—sorry, it does not make them; it supplies them. It is not allowed to make them in this country. It also pointed out that in Mexico, where the medicinal use of cannabis has been legalised, violent crime has dramatically dropped. Does the Minister not think that those things are more than a coincidence, and will he not investigate?

Nick Hurd Portrait Mr Hurd
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The hon. Lady is taking us beyond a UK scope. I do not know the book and I am grateful to her for her offer, but I come back to what I said at the start. The Government have a position based on the listing as a schedule 1 drug and the view of experts, but we review, and keep under review, what is happening in other countries and, most importantly, the WHO’s position.