Monday 27 January 2020

Campaign reply: End Our Pain "Please help severely ill children still being denied NHS access to medical cannabis"



I have been contacted by a number of residents as part of the campaign End Our Pain "Please help severely ill children still being denied NHS access to medical cannabis".

As per earlier contact on this matter, constituents may be interested to know that the Home Secretary last year confirmed that there will be a review on the scheduling of cannabis.

This step is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use and the government has absolutely no plans to legalise cannabis and the penalties for unauthorised supply and possession will remain unchanged.

However, if the review identifies that there are significant medical benefits then the Government does intend to reschedule.

As a Parliamentary Private Secretary for the Department of Health I am aware of these matters, but am not in a position where I can attend events or sign letters asking the Government to review its policy.

In a February 2019 commission, the Home Secretary asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to:

‘provide an outline for an assessment framework. This should set out how the ACMD will assess the various impacts of rescheduling cannabis-based products for medicinal use to Schedule 2 under the 2001 Regulations, and the data sources (including those provided by the Home Office and DHSC) the ACMD will use by November 2019?’

In December 2019 the ACMD provided an outline assessment framework for the assessment of the impact of rescheduling cannabis-based products for medicinal use, and will use it to provide a full report assessing the impacts of the rescheduling of CBPMs to Schedule 2, by November 2020. I have linked to the framework below:


I will view the results of this report with interest and trust that the government will then act based on the outcome.