Peter Reynolds

I am increasingly concerned about the ‘medical cannabis industry’ and its resistance to wider reform. These people, some of them at least, have forgotten very quickly who got them the business opportunity in the first place!

Of course, there is no such thing as ‘medical cannabis’. The more accurate language is ‘medicinal cannabis’ but the preferred term has to be ‘prescription cannabis’. It’s exactly the same product as is sold on ‘the streets’, grown in people’s lofts, in illicit ‘factories’ or in hugely expensive licensed facilities. Often, still, the ‘legal’ variety is of inferior quality.

There’s also no truth in the argument that prescription cannabis is safer or lower in THC. The vast majority of what is prescribed in the UK is what the media would call ‘skunk’. Unless you’re underage or smoking it with tobacco, it is safe, much safer than many other things in your kitchen cupboards.

These divisions in the cannabis sector, stoked by newcomers from the protectionist pharmaceutical industry will achieve nothing for anyone. We need a unified message on the benefits of cannabis. Whether it’s prescribed for chronic pain, anxiety, multiple sclerosis or whether it’s smoked in a spliff with the lights down and some psychedelic music on, it’s all about making you feel better.

This is the universal truth about cannabis.