Cowardice behind law on cannabis
THIRTY-TWO years ago I was in a Manchester hospital recovering from the birth of my son by caesarean section. A year later I was back in the same hospital giving birth to my daughter, again by caesarean (both sections were medically necessary – none of that “too-posh-to-push” stuff).
After both births I was given a hand-held pump that I pressed to deliver diamorphine into my veins whenever the pain got too intense. Diamorphine is pure heroin. Like many others, I was legally prescribed heroin to help me cope with abdominal surgery.
Yes, when administered as medication under the care of a doctor, diamorphine gives blessed relief from pain. But street-sold heroin can be lethal and is totally illegal. So how come I was encouraged to use such a potentially dangerous drug in hospital while children such as Billy Caldwell, 12 years old and suffering multiple life-threatening epileptic seizures every single day has, until now, been denied the cannabis-based medicine which alone can control his fits?
Cowardice, that’s why. Cannabis – the “soft” drug of choice for students and 20-somethings all over the UK, has been anathema to politicians. The very word frightens the life out of successive governments. So toxic is its image, and such a vote-loser, that even though the UK is the biggest legal producer and exporter of cannabis in the world, it’s illegal to sell or use here. Possession of it carries a prison sentence of up to five years.
I’m not arguing here for legalising recreational cannabis – although former foreign secretary Lord Hague made a very strong case for that this week – what I’m arguing for is the kindness, decency and compassion that children such as Billy so richly deserve. And for some relief for their parents. Billy’s mother, Charlotte, has been battling for her son to receive medicinal cannabis oil for years. This brave and totally committed mum finally went nuclear and publicly brought cannabis oil into the UK from Canada, where it is totally legal.
As a result of the ham-fisted confiscation of the medicine at Heathrow, Charlotte rightly opened a vast can of worms. I’m glad that Sajid Javid, our new Home Secretary, has made a stand and now seems committed to allowing the legal prescription of this (very mild) cannabis oil.
But there are so many ifs and buts in his statement. There’s going to be an “expert panel” to decide who should receive it, and we all know what that means – endless delays and prevarications.
Javid seems compassionate, dynamic and positive. He acknowledges that it is heartless and cruel to deny relief to children such as Billy. But he has got to push this medical legalisation through and not allow it to become lost in the muddy depths of committees and panels.
Charlotte Caldwell will be watching Javid and his government with the keenest of eyes. If she doesn’t get what Billy and others like him needs, she will kick up the most enormous fuss. Hopefully, so will the rest of us.