UK medicinal use of cannabis gets closer

LONDON: Britain moved a step closer to legalising the medicinal use of cannabis after a report concluded there are benefits for patients as the Government reviews the rules to allow drugs derived from the banned plant.

Prof Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England, said in the report there was conclusive evidence cannabis could help people who suffered from chronic pain, multiple sclerosis and chemotherapyinduced nausea and vomiting.

There is also some evidence cannabis can improve the sleep of patients suffering from sleep apnoea, fibromyalgia, chronic pain and multiple sclerosis, the report found.

Britain’s interior ministry ordered a review into the medical use of cannabis last month after a 12yearold’s cannabisbased epilepsy medicine was confiscated by border officials at Heathrow Airport, prompting a national debate about the use of the drug.

The Government was forced to use an exceptional power to release the medicinal oil back to his mother after the boy was admitted to hospital suffering from seizures.

Britain’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs will now consider in the second part of the review whether changes should be made to the classification of cannabis medications on an assessment of ‘‘the balance of harms and public health needs’’. — Reuters