HE BACKED CAMPAIGN TO EASE BOY’S PAIN BUT FAILED TO DECLARE LINK TO PRO-CANNABIS LOBBY

PROFESSOR Barnes was instrumental in backing an emotive campaign to obtain cannabis oil medicine for Alfie Dingley, who has severe epilepsy.

He helped the six-year-old’s mother Hannah Deacon (right, with Alfie) to secure a licence to import the remedy from The Netherlands.

The case – and that of fellow epileptic Billy Caldwell, 12, from Northern Ireland, who he also helped – shifted public opinion on the subject.

In October, the Government announced it was changing the law to allow prescription of cannabis-based medicines in certain circumstances.

In his report to the APPG on Drug Policy Reform, Professor Barnes failed to declare he was a member of the advisory panel for pressure group Clear, which aims ‘to end the prohibition of cannabis’ for all users – medicinal and recreational.

He said at the time that he was only asked to ‘advise Clear on its campaign to legalise cannabis for medical purposes’. Last night he reiterated that he did not support legalisation for recreational use. He is still a member of Clear’s advisory board.