Philippa Thompson

I support the UK Labour Frontbench position which is not to change the legal framework for drugs, including cannabis. However, on cannabis for medicinal use, I agree with Vaughan Gething’s view set out in a speech to the Senedd in 2018. He accepted there is some evidence that cannabis or its derivatives can have a role to play in managing chronic pain, anxiety, spasticity, and nausea and vomiting in the context of chemotherapy. He also said that people should be able to have access to licensed, effective medicines to alleviate these conditions rather than people resorting to what are currently illegal drugs of unknown provenance, potency, or purity. You may know the Welsh Labour Government was the first administration in the UK that recommended using Sativex. I’d add that I find it hard to understand why there hasn’t been more research and development into cannabis in medicines when we already have medicines derived from eg. opiates.