Thank you for your email and can only offer my personal view that Cannabis should be able to be prescribed by a GP for any medical condition where they judge that this would benefit the patient.
I feel that there should be a Royal Commission or similar level review of our approach to drugs and whether Cannabis should be a civil offence would need to be considered within this. I think it is important that we should seek to establish some kind of national consensus on this issue.
The Police are required to uphold the legislation as it stands but that is not to say that the legislation can’t or shouldn’t be changed.
The next General Election may not be until 2024 so with a Conservative Government in place I do not envisage there is likely to be any significant change to the policing of Cannabis. There will be some scope to shape the local approach and, if elected, I would be happy to discuss with anyone what this might look like.
- Do you agree that Black and Ethnic Minorities are unfairly penalised through Cannabis law? Yes
- I have not seen any recent statistics on this although I have read a number of articles on ethnic disparity in the policing and the prosecution of drug offences.
- Do you agree with the Canadian model of being able to convert a medical Cannabis prescription into a license to grow your own medical Cannabis? No.
- My personal view is that Cannabis should be able to be prescribed by a GP for any medical condition where they judge that this would benefit the patient.
- See above
- I feel that there should be a Royal Commission or similar level review of our approach to drugs and whether Cannabis should be a civil offence would need to be considered within this. I think it is important that we should seek to establish cross-party consensus on this issue.
- I am not convinced that sentencing guidelines like this are helpful. I do feel that more flexibility and consideration of each case is necessary.
- Yes
- I think this should be dealt with nationally and a different approach taken to prescribing Cannabis for medical reasons. The Police are required to uphold the legislation as it stands but that is not to say that the legislation can’t be changed.
- The next General Election may not be until 2024 so with a Conservative Government I do not envisage there is likely to be any significant change to the policing of Cannabis. There will be some scope to shape the local approach and I would be happy to discuss with anyone what this might look like.