British government bows to media campaign for medical cannabis
by Kathy Gyngell, MercatorNet:
Last June, under huge and hysterical media pressure, Britain’s Home Secretary Sajid Javid opened the lid on the Pandora’s box of ‘medicinal’ cannabis. He issued emergency licences to allow access for two young boys with severe forms of epilepsy. At the same time he ordered a review into evidence of its therapeutic efficacy, falling for what soon transpired to be a well-orchestrated campaign.
Coordinated by Volteface, the openly pro-legalising recreational cannabis think tank funded by Paul Birch, a multi-millionaire British tech tycoon, Volteface was aided by the journalist and campaigner Ian Birrell, who has disclosed his membership of its advisory panel.
Mrs Caldwell and her sick child had, the Daily Mail argued, been hijacked by a pro-cannabis lobby that stands to make billions. She herself has a vested interest as the director of a company marketing cannabis oil which she sells online.
With useful idiots like Lord Hague ready to make two and two add up to five by arguing that the current law is indefensible and therefore we must legalise cannabis altogether, the campaign had got off to a flying start.
Fuelled by Canada’s ill-considered decision to legalise recreational use, it reached peak volume last week.
Kate Andrews of the Institute of Economic Affairs made her case for it based on a startlingly under-informed account of post-legal pot Colorado (she cannot have read the latest impact update) and arrest stats from the American Civil Liberties Union. Whatever their reliability, she should know that here you are unlikely to receive a custodial sentence before at least seven previous convictions or cautions, and that 50 per cent sent to prison for the first time have at least 15 ‘previous’. As to cannabis possession, it is a myth that it is anything other than decriminalised already.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
