November 16.
I note with interest Mr William McKelvey's call for the
decriminalisation of cannabis, but I fear that it will do nothing more
than generate entrenched positions (November 16).
On the other hand the recent acquittal at Liverpool of Dr Anne
Biezanek on a charge of supplying cannabis to her daughter for
''medical'' purposes reveals a situation on which there has been no
debate at all.
Cannabis was a legal remedy in the hands of the medical profession for
several thousand years. In 1971, when the Government set up a committee
to advise on drugs, it was actually advised to leave it legal for
medical purposes.
Thus it is only for 22 years, since the Government chose to ignore
this advice, that we have been deprived of an extremely valuable
medication.
During that time cancer sufferers, victims of multiple sclerosis,
Aids, and glaucoma have all learned to disregard the law for the sake of
relief, but their dosages have not been recorded, measured or
controlled.
It is time to correct this anomaly at once before we advance on the
general debate.
Leslie von Goetz,
Chesterhill House,
Newport-on-Tay.
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