‘Trolling’ of MPs exposed by university

A TORY MP has said medicinal cannabis could become legal in the UK in a year after border officials seized a British mother’s supply to treat her son’s severe epilepsy.

Dr Dan Poulter is calling for a change in the law to allow medicines derived from the banned drug to be prescribed to patients.

The Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP, who is setting up an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) to bring about the change, said a “realistic” goal was between a year and 18 months.

He was speaking at a press conference in central London after 50-year-old Charlotte Caldwell’s supply of cannabis oil was seized at Heathrow Airport on her return from Canada.

She made the trip to Toronto and back with 12-year-old Billy to get a six-month supply to treat up to 100 seizures a day.

He started the treatment in 2016 in the US, and became the first person in the UK to receive a prescription. UP TO a third of UK MPs have experienced online ‘trolling’, leading to mental or emotional distress and even fear for their wellbeing, according to research by a Yorkshire university.

University of Bradford psychologists carried out a survey of Westminster MPs in which all 181 respondents reported experiencing some form of online abuse, harassment or threat.

The findings of the research will be presented and discussed at a meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Psychology, organised by the British Psychological Society, which will take place in the Strangers Dining Room at the House of Commons today at 4pm.

The research aimed to establish the prevalence of trolling among MPs and analyse the different types of abuse and harassment experienced. Male MPs received more abuse and threats than their female colleagues on Twitter but this tended to involve defamatory or false information and attempts to damage their reputation.

Abuse and threats directed at female MPs were more varied and included abuse of a racial, sexual or religious nature and threats of rape and violence.

Professor Catriona Morrison of the University of Bradford said: “Online trolling of MPs is a very real phenomenon, with almost a third of UK MPs reporting they have been a victim of trolling behaviour. While this is not exclusive to MPs, it is more prevalent than amongst those not in the public eye.”