Part of the debate – in the Senedd on 17 January 2018.
Motion NDM6565 Mark Isherwood, Leanne Wood, Mike Hedges, Rhun ap Iorwerth
To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:
1. Recognises that there is clinical evidence of the effectiveness of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
2. Recognises that, whilst Wales is the only nation in the UK where the cannabinoid symptom management drug Sativex is available on the NHS, it is only licensed for the treatment of spasticity and only then available to a small group of people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) who meet the criteria.
3. Believes that the Welsh Government should ask the UK Government to reschedule cannabis for medicinal purposes; and, in preparation for this outcome, the Welsh Government should map out within the Welsh NHS how a system whereby cannabis for medicinal purposes could be made available via a prescription to those who could benefit.
4. Notes that:
a) many people living with conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Dystonia, Epilepsy and Cancer in Wales use illegally obtained cannabis for medicinal purposes but by doing so risk prosecution and are also being exposed to other drugs;
b) the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Drug Policy Reform in the House of Commons emphatically called on the UK Government to legalise medical cannabis based on the results of their 7 month inquiry into the issue and on the findings of an independent review of global evidence led by Professor Michael P. Barnes;
c) there a growing number of countries which regulate the medical use of cannabis and cannabis derivatives, such as Canada, the Netherlands, Israel and over 20 States in the US, who regulate herbal cannabis for medical use;
d) a number of countries, including Germany and Switzerland, enable patients to import cannabis for medical use from the Netherlands;
e) the MS Society UK has changed its policy position to call on the UK Government and health bodies to ‘develop a system that legalises cannabis for medicinal use’ in light of positive evidence of the use of cannabis in treating pain and spasticity;
f) Newport West MP Paul Flynn’s 10 minute rule bill on the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use was put through unopposed to the next reading on 23rd February 2018 on 10 October.