There Are Tyrants Abroad And Tyrants At Home.
The story of Alfie Dingley is covered in today’s Sunday Times. Alfie is desperately in need of a few drops of cannabis oil each day to quell his life threatening seizures. That this medicine works for him and will save his life is proven beyond doubt under the supervision of a consultant neurologist in the Netherlands
Amber Rudd can issue a licence for cannabis oil for Alfie Dingley with a single stroke of her pen. The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 specifically gives the Home Secretary this power.
The procrastination, excuses and dithering are outrageous. When I met a very senior ex-minister just recently his exact words were: “The settled view of ministers is that the campaign for medicinal cannabis is just an excuse to take cannabis”.
This is the sickening truth about those who run UK drugs policy and it should make all of us think very carefully about the nature of these individuals who sit in their ivory towers in Westminster.
They proclaim that there is “no medicinal value” in cannabis and deny any access at all while the UN reported six months ago that the UK produces, exports and stocks more legal medicinal cannabis than any other nation: ‘The UK Is The World’s Largest Producer And Exporter Of Legal Cannabis But Its Citizens Are Denied Any Access At All’
And “they” includes Victoria Adams MP, the current junior Home Office minister responsible for drugs policy whose husband, Paul Kenward, MD of British Sugar, grows 45 acres of medicinal cannabis under contract to GW Pharma: ‘Victoria Atkins MP, The UK Drugs Minister, Opposes Drugs Regulation While Her Husband Grows 45 Acres Of Cannabis Under Government Licence’
Aside from the cruelty and hypocrisy, there is no other word for this conduct from our government except corruption.
If it were Putin denying Alfie Dingley access to the medicine he needs we would call him a monster. There are tyrants abroad and tyrants at home.
Yellow Magnolia For Mum And Dad
Magnolia x brooklynensis ‘Yellow Bird’
I bought my mother and father this yellow magnolia in the spring of 2014. My father died the following Christmas and with my mother’s permission, when she moved house six months later, I dug it up and I’ve had it in a pot ever since. Sadly, of course, Mum died the next Christmas.
Now it’s reached its final home. I’ve planted it in pride of place on the front lawn of my new home. We scattered Mum’s and Dad’s ashes at Tintern Abbey but I held on to the cardboard box and bags in which we carried them. So beneath the yellow magnolia is the shredded cardboard and few traces of remaining ashes.
It means a lot to me.
This is Paul Kenward, husband of Victoria Atkins MP who is the UK drugs minister. He grows cannabis for a living.
Mr Kenward is managing director of British Sugar which grows cannabis under contract to GW Pharmaceuticals at its 45 acre greenhouse in Wissington, Norfolk. As confirmed by British Sugar, the cannabis is for production of Epidiolex, GW’s epilepsy medicine which is understood to be 98% cannabidiol (CBD).
British Sugar website
Epidiolex is not yet licensed as a medicine although it is currently with the FDA for US approval and the European Medicines Agency for approval within the EU including the UK. It’s unclear how the British Sugar operation can be legal as according to the Home Office it only issues licences for research purposes. Only after the medicine has received a marketing authorisation could it be legally grown for commercial purposes.
This is Mrs Kenward, who prefers to be known by her maiden name of Atkins, in a recorded discussion with Kevin Sabet, America’s most notorious anti-cannabis campaigner who is fighting desperately to see the wave of legalisation in the USA reversed.
Victoria Atkins MP is now a junior Home Office minister with responsibility for drugs policy. She has spoken out forcefully against any form of legalisation or regulation of cannabis in the UK. She also rigidly maintains the government’s line that there is ‘no therapeutic value’ in cannabis. Of course, when it comes to her husband she takes a different view and, of course, she has authority to see licences issued entirely on her own discretion.
Ms Atkins spoke about drugs regulation in Parliament in July 2017:
Isn’t it is her husband who is exactly the person she is talking about? He seems to be doing just fine as a “law-abiding citizen”.
Together with the Home Secretary, Amber Rudd MP, other cabinet minsters, including prime minister Theresa May, who was the previous Home Secretary, Ms Atkins is running a giant cannabis cartel. As shown by the International Narcotics Control Board, the UK is in fact the world’s largest producer, stockist and exporter of ‘legal’ medical cannabis.
UK citizens are denied any access to medical cannabis at all, except in the form of another licensed GW product known as Sativex. However, in practice, Sativex is virtually impossible to obtain. It is believed that about one million UK citizens use cannabis illegally for medical purposes.
No, this is not a spoof article. This story is so incredible and outrageous that you really couldn’t make it up. Yes, the picture of Paul Kenward is photoshopped but all these facts are easily verifiable.
Misleading Parliament Again. Victoria Atkins, The Drugs Minister With A Family Cannabis Farm.
She’s back! Victoria Atkins MP is again engaged in answering parliamentary questions on cannabis for the UK government. Clearly this is wholly improper when she directly benefits from commercial production of cannabis.
Ms Atkins disappeared from public view for a few weeks after CLEAR revealed that her husband is growing 45 acres of cannabis under government licence while she argues against drugs regulation in Parliament. It was particularly notable that she was absent from the House of Commons during the recent urgent question debate on a medical cannabis licence for Alfie Dingley. Instead, her colleague Nick Hurd MP, ostensibly the Police Minister, was required to answer a question on drugs. Similarly, she was nowhere to be seen as Paul Flynn MP’s bill came up for debate, which sadly, as CLEAR had predicted, never took place.
It is simply extraordinary that the so-called Drugs Minister should duck and dive out of view when such issues of massive public interest hit the headlines. She has a massive conflict of interest and it is completely unacceptable for her to continue in her present role.
Yesterday, 7th March 2018, she answered a written question from Roger Godsiff, the Labour MP for Birmingham Hall Green.
“To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will assess the health and economic benefits of legalising cannabis for medical use.”
Ms Atkins answered:
“The World Health Organization’s Expert Committee on Drug Dependence has committed to reviewing the scheduling of cannabis under the United Nation’s 1961 Convention. This is due to consider the therapeutic use, as well as dependence and the potential to abuse constituent parts of cannabis. This is due in 2019 and we will await the outcome of this report before considering the next steps.”
This answer is at best disingenuous and misleading. Once the full facts are understood it is clear that it is deceptive and mendacious.
British Sugar’s giant greenhouse in Wissington, Norfolk where Victoria Atkins husband, Paul Kenward, grows cannabis
Ms Atkins husband, Paul Kenward, managing director of British Sugar, grows cannabis under contract to GW Pharmaceuticals for the production of medicine. Ms Atkins deceit is predicated on another deception promoted by the UK government that is some way or another, Sativex, GW’s cannabis medicine is not cannabis. GW is perfectly straightforward about this. Sativex is a whole plant cannabis extract adjusted by simple blending of two different strains to deliver 1:1 ratio of THC:CBD. It contains all the other cannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids and other compounds present in the plants from which it is made. The government deception is to justify the issue of a marketing authorisation (MA) for Sativex by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which is itself a deception. The MA was issued on the basis that Sativex is THC and CBD alone. The MHRA conveniently overlooks the hundreds of other ingredients and calls them “unspecified impurities”. The consequence of this is that, ludicrously, Sativex is a schedule 4 drug whilst any other form of cannabis remains schedule 1 and may not be prescribed
But the plot thickens. The deceit goes even deeper. It has been widely reported and British Sugar confirms that its grow is not for Sativex but for production of Epidiolex, the 98% cannabidiol (CBD) medicine that has not yet received an MA. If, as appears certain, this is the case then the British Sugar grow is unlawful under the declared policy of the government. Cannabis production licences (other than low-THC industrial hemp) can only be issued for “research or other special purposes“. They most certainly cannot be issued for the production of a medicine that is not yet authorised. Even if the British Sugar cannabis is low-THC, it is definitely not an approved EU industrial hemp strain and the purpose of its production is presently unlawful.
Ms Atkins through her husband is therefore engaged in the unlawful production of cannabis and is directly engaged in misleading Parliament as to government policy, the law and the medical value of cannabis. The World Health Organization story is a trick, a distraction, an excuse to divert Parliament from understanding the truth.
Ms Atkins conduct cannot be described in any other way except as corrupt. She is a disgrace as a minister of the Crown, to Parliament, to her profession as a barrister, to the Conservative Party, to her constituents in Louth and Horncastle and to the United Kingdom as a whole and all of its citizens. She is manifestly unfit for any public office.
The UK Is The World’s Largest Producer And Exporter Of Cannabis But Its Citizens Are Denied Any Access At All
This is the astonishing fact revealed by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) in its 2017 report on narcotic drugs.
In the UK no one has any legal access to any form of cannabis except exempt products derived from industrial hemp, most commonly CBD oil.
Theoretically, the cannabis medicine Sativex is available but in practice, in England it is virtually impossible to obtain it except on a private prescription as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended that it is not cost effective. In Wales it is available on prescription but doctors are first required to try highly toxic and dangerous drugs such as baclofen, tizanidine, gabapentin, pregabalin, even botulinum toxin or opioids.
The reality is that UK citizens are denied access even though their country is producing and exporting vastly more cannabis even than countries such as the USA, Canada, Israel, the Netherlands and Italy, all of which have legitimate and well regulated medical cannabis provision.
This revelation will further inflame the sense of righteous injustice in the UK. Against this background the UK continues to prohibit even medical use and is stubborn and intransigent in even being prepared to consider or discuss the evidence in favour.
How can the country which sanctions the legitimate production of more medical cannabis than any other in the world deny its own citizens legitimate access?
Gavin Williamson Shouldn’t Resign, He Must be SACKED. #AndImATory
The disgusting abuse of Jeremy Corbyn by the immature young man who has been give the grave responsibility of running Britain’s defence is beyond redemption.
I am a Tory. I’m no longer a member of the Conservative Party and after 40 years of voting for it I shall never do so again until it turns away from its authoritarian and illiberal path. But I am a true Tory instead of the fake that inhabits 10, Downing Street and her sycophants and hangers on.
Similar smears about Corbyn’s efforts in talking to the IRA and Hamas by other Conservative politicians are also beneath contempt. If our senior politicians aren’t doing all they can to reach out to such organisations in peaceful dialogue then they are irresponsible. However, that the Defence Secretary demeans himself and his office with such puerile conduct requires firm action. It is horrifying that this idiot has our armed forces under his control. It would be like giving his allies in defaming Corbyn: Murdoch, Dacre and the Barclay Brothers, access to our weaponry.
Williamson is totally unsuitable for his role and he was well before these events. He should be a junior assistant at some obscure party branch where he can make his childish mistakes and clumsy errors without causing real harm. The combination of youthful arrogance, incompetence, poor judgement and a flappy mouth should now destroy his political career for good. Perhaps his chums in the Fleet Street Mafia can find something for him to do publishing more poison and abuse?
Before that he should be dragged through the courts and bankrupted. There is no defence of fair comment or honest opinion for his behaviour, not even against the leader of a political party. Indeed, Williamson’s behaviour is an argument for bringing such serious slander back into the criminal courts.
Victoria Atkins MP, The UK Drugs Minister, Opposes Drugs Regulation While Her Husband Grows 45 Acres of Cannabis Under Government Licence.
The UK’s New Princess Of Prohibition: Dishonesty, Hypocrisy, Corruption And Cruelty Behind A Pretty Face.
There are many examples of wilful ignorance, blind prejudice and bare faced dishonesty on drugs policy from many former and current MPs. There is no one though who plumbs the depths of deception and hypocrisy as the new drugs minister Victoria Atkins.
Her recent performance in the Westminster Hall debate on drug consumption rooms (DCR) was riddled with inaccuracies, distorted information and downright falsehood about the success of such facilities throughout the world. She simply told brazen untruths in order to support her rejection of the clamour from other MPs to introduce DCRs because they are proven to save lives. I can do no better than Transform in explaining her behaviour. Its press release sets out her lies in detail. Ronnie Cowan MP even raised a point of order and then a Home Office question about her scandalous dishonesty but as usual the government just brushed aside any criticism.
Victoria Atkins: Barrister, MP, Home Office Minister, Dishonest And Corrupt To The Core
Ms Atkins is the daughter of Sir Robert Atkins, a former Conservative MP and MEP. She studied law at Cambridge and was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1998. She has practised as a barrister and was formerly listed as a member of Red Lion Chambers. She has been appointed to the Attorney General’s Regulators Panel and the Serious Fraud Office’s List of specialist fraud prosecutors. She claims to have been involved in the prosecution of major, international, drugs gangs and that this, somehow or another, qualifies her as an expert in drugs policy.
I relate her background because it is clear that she is a highly intelligent, clever and well informed woman. This makes her dishonesty, hypocrisy and corruption all the more serious and completely inexcusable.
Ms Atkins has replaced Sarah Newton as drugs minister. Ms Newton didn’t last long, perhaps because she couldn’t stand the ridicule that she was subjected to for trying to hold the line on the government’s ridiculous drugs policy. When she tried to claim that alcohol isn’t really that damaging compared to illicit drugs, she had MPs either gasping in amazement or chuckling in amusement. Ms Atkins was clearly spotted for the job because she is one of the few MPs still enthusiastic about prohibition.
Paul Kenward, Victoria Atkins’s husband, grows cannabis under government licence
But of course, it’s specifically on cannabis that I must call Ms Atkins to account. Aside from the usual, hysterical and evidence-free claims that so-called ‘skunk’ cannabis is causing an enormous increase in mental illness, which she trots out repeatedly, she rejects any idea of regulation in drugs policy as a means of reducing harm. In the drugs policy debate on 18th July 2017 (before she was appointed drugs minister) she said:
and “I do not share the optimism of others about tackling the problem through regulation.”
Paul Kenward’s Cannabis Greenhouse
However, in what must be the most blatant hypocrisy ever from a government minister, Ms Atkins benefits directly from regulation of drugs. She is married to Paul Kenward, managing director of British Sugar which is growing 45 acres of cannabis under licence in its mammoth Norfolk greenhouse. Mr Kenward is producing high CBD cannabis for use in Epidiolex, GW Pharma’s cannabis extract epilepsy medicine. Ms Atkins has tried to brush this off calling it “…a very different substance (from the) psychoactive version of cannabis.” Of course, anyone with even the most basic knowledge of plant science will know this is nonsense. The difference between different strains of cannabis is the same as the difference between different varieties of tomatoes. Whether they’re Ailsa Craig or Alicante, they’re all tomatoes.
With this latest scandal the shameful truth about UK drugs policy and the corrupt nature of this Conservative government is highlighted once again. It is difficult to believe this bare faced dishonesty can prevail in a country that was once held up as an example of honour and decency but as with so much that Theresa May has been responsible for since she entered government in 2010, we are disgraced, shamed and the electorate is treated with absolute contempt.
Let’s Temper Hope For Paul Flynn’s Medical Cannabis Bill With Some Reality.
Paul Flynn MP introducing his 10 Minute Rule Bill
No one would like to see Paul Flynn’s ‘Elizabeth Brice’ bill to re-legalise medical cannabis pass through Parliament more than me. Yet it concerns me that expectations are being raised way beyond what is realistic. There is widespread misunderstanding about what the bill is and what are its chances of getting any further.
The Legalisation of Cannabis (Medicinal Purposes) Bill 2017–19 is a Private Member’s Bill. It was introduced to Parliament on Tuesday 10 October 2017 under the Ten Minute Rule. This allows an MP to make his or her case for a new bill in a speech lasting up to ten minutes. An opposing speech may also be made before the House decides whether or not the bill should be introduced. If the MP is successful the bill is taken to have had its first reading.
Private Member’s Bills almost never become law. Those that have the best of a very slim chance are proposed by one of about 20 MPs who win the right to put a bill forward a bill in the ballot that takes place at the beginning of each session. This also decides the order of precedence for the 20 bills to be given parliamentary time.
A 10 Minute Rule Bill is even less likely to become law. It is the only way other than the ballot that an MP can introduce a bill personally and if it passes its first reading, as Paul Flynn’s bill did, it is set down for second reading. All Private Member’s Bills are debated on Fridays and before any 10 Minute Rule can be debated the bills put forward under the ballot will come first and even for those, mostly there will be no time available. Remember also that on Fridays most MPs will not even be in Parliament, they will be back in their constituencies seeing people in their surgeries.
Sadly, the truth is that the second reading of Paul Flynn’s bill is unlikely even to take place. Although it is set down for 23rd February 2018, there is virtually zero chance of any time being found for it. It will simply wither away with no progress or further mention.
Even Parliament’s own website says of 10 Minute Rule Bills “an opportunity for Members to voice an opinion…rather than a serious attempt to get a Bill passed.”
I asked Paul Flynn himself what he thought were the chances of his bill making any progress and his response is illuminating. His exact words were: “I am expecting major changes to political party attitudes in the next 12 months following the developing trends in the United States.”
I think we can all agree on that. In fact, I would say that there already have been major changes in the attitudes of most MPs. The single biggest obstacle to any drug law reform is Theresa May. After all, what other leader anywhere in the world, apart from the murderous thug President Durterte of the Philippines, has recently called for a continuance of the war on drugs?
May and Duterte – two of a kind on drugs policy
I am confident that once Theresa May is gone, then whatever party is in power, we will see some progress. There is similar, hopeless optimism about Jeremy Corbyn. Speaking at a Labour leadership debate in Glasgow, in August 2016, he said: “I would decriminalise medicinal uses of cannabis.” I think it was the same day or the day after that both John McDonnell and Diane Abbott contradicted him. Nevertheless, there is a delusional strand of opinion that Corbyn would act on this immediately he was elected. Dream on! The Labour Party has the worst record of any UK political party on drugs policy. For instance it was Margaret Thatcher who introduced needle exchange back in the 80s and yes, even Theresa May sanctioned the provision of foil to heroin users for smoking as an alternative to injecting. The Labour Party has never done anything in support of progressive drugs policies that it hasn’t reversed under pressure from the tabloid press.
Progress on access to medical cannabis is coming irrespective of which party is in power. In the meantime, the best that any of us can do is keep up pressure on our personal MPs and in our local media and through our doctors. Probably the biggest breakthrough this year on medical cannabis will be the publication of guidelines by the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP). Organised by CLEAR and authored by our Scientific and Medical Advisor, Professor Mike Barnes, this shows MPs that however irresponsible and pig-headed government ministers may be, doctors have a responsibility to their patients, an ethical duty that transcends the grubby and corrupt politics that ministers subscribe to.
Sadly then, 23rd February and the second reading of Paul Flynn’s bill will be a non-event. For the rest of 2018 look out for the RCGP guidelines and drop your MP a line when they come out asking for his or her view. Also, in July look out for Canada’s legalisation of cannabis for all adults. Again, another opportunity to bring the subject up with your MP. The latest, standard, Home Office approved reply from MPs reads as follows:
“Cannabis in its raw form is not recognised as having any medicinal purposes. The licensing regime for medicines is administered by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which issues licences for medicines in the UK which have been tested for their safety, quality and efficacy.
A medicine derived from the cannabis plant, Sativex, has already been licenced for use in the treatment of spasticity due to multiple sclerosis (MS). The MHRA is open to considering other licence applications for medicines containing cannabinoids should such products be developed.
In 2014, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published its clinical guideline on the management of MS that does not recommend Sativex as a cost effective use of NHS resources. In the absence of positive guidance from NICE, it is for commissioners to make decisions on whether to fund this treatment based on an assessment of the available evidence.
I do appreciate that there are people with chronic pain and debilitating illnesses who seek to alleviate their symptoms by using cannabis. Although such use is illicit, the Sentencing Council’s guidelines on drug offences identify such circumstances as a potential mitigating factor.
The Government has no plans to legalise the recreational use of cannabis. The official advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs cites medical and scientific research showing that cannabis use has a number of adverse acute and chronic health effects, especially for people with mental health problems, and continues to present a significant public health issue.”
If you receive this response, first of all, don’t bother writing back, it will get you nowhere. If you really want to do your bit then make an appointment to see your MP at his/her surgery. Then give him/her this simple fact that totally devastates the Home Office and MHRA position:
In every jurisdiction throughout the world where medicinal cannabis has been legally regulated, it is through a special system outside pharmaceutical medicines regulation.
This is the government’s very last excuse for denying access to medicinal cannabis. The MHRA process is incapable of dealing with a medicine that contains hundreds of molecules. It is designed by the pharmaceutical industry for regulating single molecule medicines, usually synthesised in a lab, which have the potential to be highly toxic. Every other government that has recognised the enormous benefit that medicinal cannabis offers has come to the same conclusion: cannabis is a special case. It is far more complex but much, much safer than pharmaceutical products.
Darkest Hour.
This film is brilliant. The first movie I have watched in years where it felt too short rather than too long. Instead of self indulgence from a director with far too high an opinion of his work, this is beautifully crafted, paced and at the end I was thinking “no, surely it can’t be over now?”
The final minute delivers the most massive emotional punch which had me reeling and as the credits began to roll the tears followed them down my face.
Just magnificent.
Review: The Saber Vape Pen
I’ve enjoyed trying out the Saber Vape Pen over the last couple of months. It’s a vape pen for concentrates: wax, shatter, oil and all types of cannabis extracts with textures ranging from brittle toffee to gloopy sludge. In use, the main difference is how easy it is to get the gloop into the bowl – and sometimes it’s not easy, it quickly becomes a sticky mess!
Of course the sort of product that this is designed for isn’t easily available in the UK, so I turned to California for a selection of the delights available there. I asked for wax but ended up with two types – the first was called shatter but it wasn’t at all brittle, in fact it’s soft and pliable. The second, which seems to be the latest thing, is known as juice. It’s a very smooth and thick oil that goes stringy when you pick it up with a dab tool and you have to twist it like spaghetti round a fork to try and poke it into the bowl. I had a selection of strains: Banana OG, Blue Sherbet, Pineapple Express, Nug Run, King Louis OG, Juliet, Starfighter – yes I was that kid in a sweet shop!
Concentrate pens are essentially very simple devices. They consist of a battery, a bowl and a mouthpiece. The bowl heats up when you press a button and usually it can be set to three different heat levels. The big difference is in the technology that the bowl uses, either dual quartz coils, literally two tiny coils at the bottom of the bowl that heat up or a ceramic bowl that is just a clean, uncluttered reservoir where the bottom of the bowl heats up. The ceramic bowl seems preferable but in practice dual quartz coils generally works a bit better but are more difficult to clean. You really have to try for yourself to see which you prefer.
The Saber comes with both types of bowl and I prefer the dual quartz coils. The unique feature of the Saber is that it holds together magnetically. The battery connects to the bowl with a magnet which in turn connects to the mouthpiece with magnet, there’s no screw thread at all. This is convenient and it works well but where it falls down is in connecting to the charger which is also achieved with a magnet. This means that you always have to use the Saber charger and not one of the standard chargers of which I have many. This is inconvenient and if you lose or break the Saber charger you’re going to have to buy a new one.
All concentrate pens work in a very similar way and it’s difficult to differentiate between them. The type of mouthpiece, its size, the overall size of the pen, all these factors effect how each pen works and, to be honest, I think it’s just a question of getting used to each type and learning its idiosyncracies. I do like the Saber. I have tended to stick with it although I have another three or four in my drawer. I find it a handy size, it’s not too harsh as some pens can be and, with the exception of the magnet connection to the charger I have nothing to criticise about it.
If you haven’t used a concentrate vape pen before and experienced the effect of a good quality concentrate and the wonderful flavour and intense hit, then it’s something you can really look forward to. Take it slow! It’s very easy to rip your throat out if you pull too hard and as most of these concentrates are 80% THC and more, it’s very easy to blow your brains out! Even for an experienced cannabis consumer, be careful, these are very, very powerful and you need to learn how to use them so that the experience is safe and enjoyable. When you get it right though, there’s not really anything to beat it. It’s clean, convenient, wonderful flavour and you’re inhaling far less smoke or vapour than by any other method. In my opinion, this is the best way to consume cannabis.
My Saber Vape Pen came from NY Vape Shop. Thank you to them for giving me the opportunity to try it.
Peter Reynolds 