Doctors urge legalising of cannabis
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A GROUP of doctors who specialise in public health are calling for cannabis to be legalised for medicinal and recreational use.
The group has tabled a motion for debate at the British Medical Association's annual conference next month calling for a change in the law to help curb the spread of hard drugs.
The doctors are members of the Scottish committee for public health medicine and community health, and they argue that classifying cannabis alongside heroin and cocaine gives young people the idea that taking hard drugs is no more dangerous than smoking a joint.
Their motion, that the BMA should "support the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal and recreational use", was put before the BMA's public health conference by the committee earlier this month but was defeated.
George Venters, the committee chairman, said: "I think more than half the population would support legalisation if you laid out the evidence." The BMA supports research into the development of the active ingredients of cannabis for medical use but does not back smoking of the raw drug to relieve pain as experts say it contains too many contaminants.
A spokeswoman for the BMA said: "The Board of Science looked at the issue of recreational use last year and decided that the issue of legalisation was outside their remit."
Dr Brian Potter, Scottish secretary of the BMA, said: "What [the committee is] trying to say is that there are other dangerous drugs which are legalised and cause a lot more deaths. Certainly in Scotland, 35 people a day die from tobacco use. Maybe we should be focusing on that rather than putting our energies on cannabis."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments