I'd like to thank Mark, Leanne, Mike and Rhun for bringing forward this debate today. Cannabis has many medicinal benefits. It can be used to control pain, treat spasticity, help with the side effects of chemotherapy, and new studies show it can help control epileptic seizures in children. We are only just beginning, though, to understand the possible benefits that cannabis can deliver, and I welcome wider research into its use for medicinal purposes.

I cannot, however, support the reclassification of cannabis, in the same way I would not support the reclassification of opium or heroin, which may also have medicinal purposes. Unfortunately, smoking cannabis has many harms associated with it. The British Lung Foundation identified cannabis smoke as a carcinogen and also found that awareness of the danger was very low, with 40 per cent of under-35s thinking that cannabis, when smoked, was not harmful. Studies have found that THC, the principal psychoactive substance within the cannabis plant, can cause cognitive defects, particularly if taken long term—