Thursday 8 September 2016

APPG Medicinal Cannabis Initiative


Short Inquiry into the case for changing the categorisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes from Schedule 1 to a more appropriate Schedule”

On September 13th, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Drug Policy Reform published its report and recommendations following its inquiry and presented all the evidence to No 10 Downing Street along with United Patients Alliance and #EndOurPain

From the left: Frank Warburton (APPG), Jon Liebling, Clark French (UPA), Prof Mike Barnes, Peter Carroll (#EndOurPain), Baroness Molly Meacher

The APPG has over 100 MPs and Peers as its members and is Co-Chaired by Caroline Lucas MP and crossbench peer Baroness Molly Meacher.
To find out more visit the APPG Website






Molly attended our Patient Perspective event in London last year and was “deeply moved” by what she heard. She told us on the night, “I had no idea it had such a broad range of benefits. We have to do something about this!”


In the first of many meetings with Molly and her team we successfully argued that “a more appropriate schedule” would be better than “to Schedule 2” reflecting the fact that GW Pharmaceuticals full plant extract medicine Sativex is in Schedule 4 and as such, this should be considered more carefully.
In addition we were overjoyed to have successfully made the case for the inclusion of a recommendation to decriminalise "Grow Your Own" for patients witin the report.
The APPG’s report included evidence from many written submissions and oral hearings in which UPA and a number of our patients took part, along with many other interested groups from both sides of the fence. Most significantly, one of the UK’s top consultant neurologists, Professor Mike Barnes, published his comprehensive and qualitative review of the scientific evidence for cannabis’ efficacy for many conditions which was supported by the publication of the results from APPG and United Patients Alliance recent survey of over 600 medical cannabis patients.


House of Lords
From Left: Clark French, Founder and Director UPA, Caroline Lucas MP, Baroness Molly Meacher and UPA Political Director, Jonathan Liebling

All the documents can be accessed here:

APPG Report: Accessing Medicinal Cannabis: Meeting Patient’s Needs 
Professor Mike Barnes: Cannabis: The Evidence for Medical Use 
United Patients Alliance: Medicinal Cannabis Patient Survey

Alongside this launch, #EndOurPain presented their petition:

Sign up to support #EndOurPain here: http://www.endourpain.org/


Whilst we await an official response from the UK Government which we expect will be forthcoming in the next few weeks, it has never been a better time to get involved with United Patients Alliance and help us drive the forward.
We need all the help we can muster - CLICK here if you would like to!

Jon Liebling – Political Director of United Patients Alliance


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