Petition To Seek Amendment On The Cannabis Laws

This is a petition to seek an amendment of the current laws on cannabis.

The current law is cannabis is a class b drug, a quote from the home office website states.

“Classing cannabis in Class B reflects the fact that skunk, a much stronger version of the drug, now dominates in the UK. Skunk has swept many less potent forms of cannabis off the market, and now accounts for more than 80% of cannabis available on our streets, compared to just 30% in 2002.”

This leads people to believe that stronger levels of cannabis are dangerous for consumption, yet how can this be true? when the government profits from the production of sativex a cannabis based medicine sold in a form of a mouth spray.

Sativex is made by GW pharmaceuticals who grow a strain of skunk which has high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with equal high levels cannabinoids, (unlike most street cannabis which usually contains moderate-high levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and low levels cannabinoids.)

Each ml of sativex contains:
38-44 mg and 35-42 mg of two extracts from Cannabis sativa
folium cum flore (Cannabis leaf and flower)
27 mg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and 25 mg cannabidiol.

(this composition is similar to what you would find in a joint of skunk)

How can it be that the same properties found in skunk pose a danger to us but when packaged and sold by pharmaceutical company it is a medicine for Multiple Sclerosis, cancer pain, Neuropathic pain, Rheumatoid arthritis, Bladder dysfunction, plus many more?

http://www.gwpharm.com/multiple-sclerosis.aspx

It is a flawed argument to say the increased use of higher potent skunk is a danger and a reason to classify cannabis as a class b drug, when gw pharmaceuticals actually advises its patients to intake 27 mg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and 25 mg cannabidiol per spray and increase their dosage.

“The number of sprays should be increased each day following the pattern
given in the table below. The afternoon/evening dose should be taken at any
time between 4 pm and bedtime. When the morning dose is introduced, it
should be taken at any time between waking and midday. The patient may
continue to gradually increase the dose by one spray per day, up to a
maximum of 12 sprays per day, until they achieve optimum symptom relief.
There should be at least a 15 minute gap between sprays.”

http://www.gwpharm.com/uploads/spc-doc.pdf

patients pay £70-90 for a daily dose of Sativex, this is very expensive compared to smoking the same amount of thc and cbd or cooking and eating the same amount commonly done in cookies or muffins, Sativex is unaffordable and unnecessary it is essentially a strain of skunk liquefied and repackaged into a form of a mouth spray, it is then sold at highly inflated price to people who are vulnerable and in need of relief from chronic pain at £70-90 a daily dose, that’s the equivalent of paying for a half ounce of cannabis a day,
a half ounce of cannabis lasts the average smoker 7-8 days, it is important to remember the bill for Sativex treatment usually falls on the NHS.

It is uneconomical to buy medicine that has been slightly altered and repackaged when you can get the same medicine in its natural form at a higher quality and a cheaper price to the health budget.

It is also hypocritical and unethical to sale delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol based medicines whilst the current law still classify cannabis as a class b drug, the government is profiting from the sale of sativex whilst people are criminalised for smoking it, the consumption of medicine is the same whether it be in the form of mouth spray or a joint, and if abused it should be treated as a health problem not a criminal one.

It because of probihation that strains of skunk have become unbalanced in thc/cbd levels.
The importance of having regulated strains of cannabis with balanced levels of thc and cbd can be backed up by the 2008 study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, research indicated that CBD a major constituent of the plant, representing up to 40% in its extracts “acts as an anti-psychotic and may counteract the potential effects of THC on individuals with latent schizophrenia”.

Another study by A. J. Hampson,*† M. Grimaldi,‡ J. Axelrod,* and D. Wink§
*Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Regulation, National Institutes of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD 20892; ‡Laboratory of Adaptive Systems, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, MD 20892; and §Radiology and Biology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda

“The neuroprotective actions of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids were examined in rat cortical neuron cultures exposed to toxic levels of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate. Glutamate toxicity was reduced by both cannabidiol, a nonpsychoactive constituent of marijuana, and the psychotropic cannabinoid (−)Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Cannabinoids protected equally well against neurotoxicity mediated by N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors, 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid receptors, or kainate receptors. N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor-induced toxicity has been shown to be calcium dependent; this study demonstrates that 2-amino-3-(4-butyl-3-hydroxyisoxazol-5-yl)propionic acid/kainate receptor-type neurotoxicity is also calcium-dependent, partly mediated by voltage sensitive calcium channels. The neuroprotection observed with cannabidiol and THC was unaffected by cannabinoid receptor antagonist, indicating it to be cannabinoid receptor independent. Previous studies have shown that glutamate toxicity may be prevented by antioxidants. Cannabidiol,

THC and several synthetic cannabinoids all were demonstrated to be antioxidants by cyclic voltametry. Cannabidiol and THC also were shown to prevent hydroperoxide-induced oxidative damage as well as or better than other antioxidants in a chemical (Fenton reaction) system and neuronal cultures. Cannabidiol was more protective against glutamate neurotoxicity than either ascorbate or α-tocopherol, indicating it to be a potent antioxidant.

These data also suggest that the naturally occurring, nonpsychotropic cannabinoid, cannabidiol, may be a potentially useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of oxidative neurological disorders such as cerebral ischemia.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC20965/

This study found in short cannabis with equal levels of cbd and thc was not only safe to consume but was medicinally beneficial,

There are more recent studies to further back cannabis medicinal properties:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_marijuana#Recent_studies

After looking at these studies you begin to realise why GW can sell sativex without having to worry about patients suing them, cannabis has no ill side effects it does not kill your brain cells, give you lung cancer, or make you schizophrenic, if it did so GW would not be allowed to sell sativex, in fact the only undesirable effect of taking sativex (27 mg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and 25 mg cannabidiol) is dizziness

See 4.8 undesirable effects

“The most commonly reported adverse reactions in the first four weeks of
exposure were dizziness, which occurs mainly during the initial titration
period, and fatigue. These reactions are usually mild to moderate and resolve
within a few days even if treatment is continued”

http://www.gwpharm.com/uploads/spc-doc.pdf

skunk has been around for a long time it hasn’t just popped up in the millennium, its true to say there are now more varieties and stronger potencies then 20 years ago, however it can then be argued because of probihation we have unregulated strengths of skunk strains with high levels tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and low levels cannabinoids, it is because of probihation that cannabis has become unsafe, where as relaxing the laws of cannabis and regulating the industry will allow safer balanced strains to be developed, you only have to look at the extensive range of skunk strains available from Holland: Super lemon haze, Lemon skunk, Cheese, Himalaya gold, Strawberry haze, Hawaiian snow,

http://greenhouseseeds.nl/shop/green-house-strains-statistics.html

These strains are superior in quality and far more medicinally beneficial and safer to smoke than any street cannabis likely to be found in Britain.

Probihation of alcohol did not work, and probihation of cannabis hasn’t worked, we have wasted billions of pounds in enforcement of this law yet at the same time we are inflating the price of cannabis making billions of pounds for the criminals who control the industry. Would it not make more sense to muscle out the criminals by legalising cannabis, selling it over a counter and taxing it to pay for our budget deficit, rather than continue with a failing war that costs the tax payer billions.

Its about time we take the cannabis industry away from the criminals and regulating it just like we did with alcohol and cigarettes, we could be pay the deficit off far more quickly whilst protecting front line services and at the same time this would free up prison spaces, police time, and court days thus saving us more money, it would also cut crime dramatically, think about it, we don’t have people committing crime and murder to over cigarettes and alcohol, because the government controls and regulates the industry, large companies like Imperial Tobacco PLC pay for our schools, hospitals, credit bills, in the form of taxes. We could do the same with cannabis.

Whereas keeping cannabis the already existing multi billion pound industry in a black market, where you have no control or power of regulation or tax revenue, is crazy,
It has cost us billions in the last 20 years enforcing a failing war, there are more cannabis smokers now then 20 years ago, and more prisoners (for cannabis offences) now then 20 years ago, we cannot simply keep chucking money at the problem.
Keeping cannabis illegal plays and pays into the hands of criminals, its keeps the price of cannabis inflated and their profits tax free in what is a forever growing industry.

This is why we believe it is in Britain's interest that we should regulate, control and tax cannabis by inheriting a similar act as the one in California Proposition 19, also known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_19_(2010)