Medical cannabis users could still be criminalised in UK despite government accepting its benefits

Current UK law, and recent recommendations err on the side of caution
The Conversation (UK)
Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Cannabis is high on the agenda at the moment. Not only have California and Canada passed new laws to legalise marijuana, but in the UK, two recent high profile medical cases have forced the issue of medical cannabis right up to government level. The outcry over Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley – two epileptic boys who rely on cannabis oil to control their seizures – has led the UK government to accept that cannabis extracts may have medical benefits. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has since recommended that some forms of cannabis should be allowed for medical uses. But the devil, as always, is in the detail, and in practice, people who use cannabis therapeutically will still be treated as criminals.