IPCC Upholds CLEAR Appeal Against Avon and Somerset Police.
PC Adge Secker
In January, a cocky, self-publicising cop from Bath published a typically ignorant piece of anti-cannabis scaremongering in his local paper.
PC Adge Secker wrote, amongst other nonsense, that “on average” cannabis plants are worth £1000 each, that “kids as young as 10 get hooked” and that it “…causes psychotic episodes so terrible that people throw themselves off buildings”.
CLEAR submitted a formal complaint to the Professional Standards department of Avon and Somerset Police. We described the article as “full of exaggeration, falsehood and distortion” and said “it is wholly wrong and unprofessional for any police officer to engage in this political debate and amounts to misconduct”.
Avon and Somerset Police rejected our complaint, described it as “fanciful” and refused to record it or investigate it any further. Another article was published in the same local newspaper headlined “Bath police officer’s views on cannabis backed by Avon and Somerset Police”. The editor of the Bath Chronicle, Alex Brown, had already taken sides and supported this police misconduct writing that “any suggestion that he shouldn’t have an opinion and shouldn’t speak out is ridiculous”. But the fact is that police officers are prohibited from engaging in politics for very good reason.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has now upheld our appeal. Avon and Somerset Police must now record and investigate the complaint.
The IPCC’s decision states “a reasonable person could share your general view that the officer has used his position to publish inaccurate information and enter into a political debate”.
It doesn’t mean we have won but it does mean we have forced this police force to take us seriously. Now PC Secker’s misconduct in telling porkies to support his political opinion will have to be investigated. The rules of evidence will apply and we have a very strong case.
Most important of all, making complaints like this deters other police officers from engaging in such propaganda exercises. CLEAR followers will recall that in 2013 we ran a series of similar complaints against Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. In the end our complaints weren’t upheld but Sir Bernard has never since voiced his jaundiced opinions or pushed his anti-cannabis agenda. That is the result we wanted.
CLEAR Evidence For the APPG Medicinal Cannabis Inquiry.
Roland Gyallay-Pap, Peter Reynolds
Yesterday, 2nd March 2016, Roland Gyallay-Pap and Peter Reynolds were called to give evidence at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform Inquiry into Regulation of Cannabis for Medicinal Use.
We have already submitted a 15 page written response. Yesterday’s oral hearing was to enable the inquiry to question us in more detail. We cannot publish our written response or go into great detail about yesterday’s hearing until the inquiry has published its own report which is some weeks away yet.
As we arrived at the hearing, Tom Lloyd, ex-chief constable of Cambridgeshire, was waiting to go in so we sat at the back of the committee room and listened to his contribution. Later, after our session, we adjourned to the Westminster Arms for some legal recreational drug use and to swop notes. Tom is a great asset to the campaign and we were able to update each other on the work we are involved in.
The inquiry panel consisted of three MPs and five members of the House of Lords. Roland opened our session with an account of how cannabis oil had helped in the last months of his mother’s life before she died from pancreatic cancer. The whole panel was visibly moved. Baroness Meacher explained that this was not the only such testimony they had heard. Everyone was extremely receptive. A lot of detailed questions were asked about CLEAR’s work and our knowledge of the science, law and best practice involved in medicinal cannabis.
The inquiry’s report will undoubtedly support some reform of the law around medicinal cannabis. Let us hope it will provoke real action from government.
Top Jersey Doctor Misinforms and Misleads On Medicinal Cannabis.
Dr Nigel Minihane
Dr Nigel Minihane is the head of Jersey Primary Care Trust which represents all GPs on the island. Recently he contributed supposedly ‘expert opinion’ to an article in the Jersey Evening Post about someone who had been juicing raw cannabis for therapeutic reasons. His comments demonstrate an ignorance and lack of knowledge which is unacceptable in a doctor in such a senior position. In conjunction with CLEAR members in Jersey, we have submitted a formal complaint.
Jersey Evening Post, 13th February 2016
Dear Sirs,
On behalf of our members in Jersey, we wish to bring a complaint of misconduct against Dr. Nigel Minihane concerning comments attributed to him and published in the Jersey Evening Post on 13th February 2016.
The article in question is attached to this email. The passage we are concerned about is at the very end of the article where Dr Minihane gives false information about a recent drug trial in France which resulted in one death and several people suffered brain damage.
The trial to which Dr Minhane refers was not “of a cannabinoid substance”, it was of an FAAH inhibitor, known as BIA 10-2474. This drug is designed to inhibit the natural degradation of endocannabinoids, leading, it was hoped, to pain relief through modulation of the CB receptor network. It was therefore neither a cannabinoid substance nor cannabis. See: http://www.nature.com/news/scientists-in-the-dark-after-french-clinical-trial-proves-fatal-1.19189
Dr Minihane’s words were therefore inaccurate and misleading and contribute to the prejudice and misunderstanding around the use of cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine. Dr Minihane is, of course, entitled to his opinion but based on his other comments in the article he is clearly very poorly informed on the subject. There is a vast amount of peer reviewed, published evidence which supports the safety and efficacy of cannabis and cannabinoids as medicine. See attached paper ‘Medicinal Cannabis: The Evidence’. Furthermore, it is well established in the evidence that cannabis is physically addictive, with about 9% of regular users developing dependence which is characterised by physical withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, lack of appetite and headache.
We understand that Dr Minihane is head of the Jersey Primary Care Trust and the Jersey Evening Post will have asked him to provide an expert opinion. The information he provided was inaccurate, misleading and reckless. In our view it falls well below the professional standard that one is entitled to expect from any doctor. It is woefully inadequate in the case of a doctor in such a senior position who holds himself out as an expert yet communicates false information to the public through the media.
We would be grateful if you would consider this complaint at your earliest opportunity. We are able to provide oral evidence in support and to suggest witnesses resident in Jersey who endure unnecessary pain and suffering due to medicinal conditions that coud be treated by cannabis if the PCT was properly assessing and considering the evidence.
Yours faithfully
Peter Reynolds
President
The Next Prime Minster Of The UK?
Michael Gove is a decent Tory, a man of principle, extraordinary intelligence and integrity. He is also a master of the media and a man I would vote for.
His decision to campaign for the UK to leave the EU is the right one. Cameron’s self-serving charade of negotiation is at last over. Now we can get on with making the decision. It will be all scaremongering, fear and dire warnings from the ‘In’ campaign but in Michael Gove we have a leader who can inspire the nation towards the courageus and correct decision.
Sadly, he is the sort of man now rare in the Conservative Party but after the chaos and shameful equivocation of the Cameron years, Gove could be the man to rescue Britain.
His values are well demonstrated by the way he has dismantled the authoritarian and brutal jackboot rule imposed by Chris Grayling as Lord Chancellor at the ministry of justice but, in my view, he has a proud record in education as well.
Michael Gove, the libertarian, could be the man to persuade me away from the floundering Liberal Democrats. Now led by a quasi-socialist and more concerned with political correctness than liberalism, I am reluctant to renew my membership. Get us out of the EU, replace Cameron with Gove and I will consider rejoining a liberal, one nation Tory party.
GW Founder And Chairman, Geoffrey Guy, Explains Sativex.
“Most people in our industry said it was impossible to turn cannabis into a prescription medicine. We had to rewrite the rule book. We have the first approval of a plant extract drug in modern history. It has 420 molecules, whereas every other drug has just one.”
Fast Moving Consumer Goods.
Commercialisation Is The Only Sustainable Route To Legalisation.
Talking Cannabis In Parliament.
Norman Lamb MP, Peter Reynolds
Today, 8th February 2016, Peter Reynolds, president of CLEAR, met with Norman Lamb MP, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for health, for an update on the cannabis campaign.
Independent Panel of Experts on Cannabis Regulation.
The Liberal Democrats have set up an independent panel of experts to establish how a legalised market for cannabis could work in the United Kingdom. Norman Lamb wants the panel to look at evidence from Colorado, Washington State and Uruguay, where cannabis has been legalised and to make recommendations for the party to consider in the spring.
As a contribution to the panel’s work, CLEAR has provided the independent study it commissioned in 2011, ‘Taxing the UK Cannabis Market’ which establishes the most comprehensive database on the reality of cannabis in the UK. In addition, The CLEAR Plan, ‘How To Regulate Cannabis in Britain’, builds on this data to propose detailed regulations for exactly how the market could work and contribute a £6.7 billion net gain to the UK exchequer.
Imminent Launch of New Medicinal Cannabis Campaign.
Within the next few days, CLEAR, along with other cannabis law reform groups, will co-operate in the launch of probably the largest campaign for access to medicinal cannabis ever seen in the UK. The time has come when people who are suffering must be given the opportunity to stop their pain with a safe, non-toxic, proven alternative to expensive and debilitating pharmaceutical products. The intransigence of successive UK governments must be overcome and this time a strategy is in place which will work.
The CLEAR publication ‘Medicinal Cannabis:The Evidence’ has received international acclaim and is the most comprehensive and up to date review of the scientific evidence supporting the use of cannabis.
Further Development of Liberal Democrat Drugs Policy.
In 1971, when the Misuse of Drugs Act came into force there were approximately 3,000 problematic drug users in the UK. Today, 45 years on, that figure has risen to around 350,000. Norman Lamb describes this as “one of the greatest public policy disasters of all time”. Today, in a speech about the prison service, David Cameron talked of the need to tackle the most difficult social problems facing Britain. Drug crime and drug addiction is probably the single biggest factor in our prison problems and the consequences of 45 years of failed drugs policy pervades our society. As the Liberal Democrats consider this difficult issue, tackling reform of cannabis policy is the first step.
Justice Minister Reveals UK Is Trialling Portuguese Approach To Drugs.
In the secretive way that now seems to be standard practice for the UK government, the justice minister, Andrew Selous MP, revealed yesterday, in an answer to a written Parliamentary Question, that he is “currently trialling ‘Liaison and Diversion’ services”.
“These services place health professionals at police stations and courts to assess suspects for a range of health problems, including drug misuse, and make referrals to treatment and support. Information shared with the criminal justice system can be used to inform decisions, supporting diversion into treatment as part of an alternative to charge or to custody where appropriate.
We are also interested in problem-solving courts, such as drug courts, given evidence of success in other jurisdictions. Officials are now working with members of the judiciary to consider how the problem-solving approach might be developed for England and Wales.”
Source: Hansard
This is good news and is to be welcomed. However, why can’t the UK government engage with the electorate on drug law reform? Instead of dismissing all calls for reform out of hand, how about behaving as if the UK really is a democracy? Portugal has made massive improvements in public health through an enlightened and intelligent approach to drugs policy. Let us hope, one day soon the UK will catch up.
CLEAR, The British Medicinal Cannabis Campaign and UK CBD Combine To Offer Media Briefings.
The subject of cannabis as medicine is certain to rise to the top of the UK news agenda in forthcoming weeks as a new Coronation Street storyline unfolds.
The character Izzy Armstrong (Cherylee Houston) who has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, will be seen suffering when her prescription medicine fails to alleviate her pain. Erica Holroyd (Claire King) will then suggest that she starts using cannabis as an alternative and ends up supplying Izzy with the drug. The programme will look at all aspects of the debate on medicinal cannabis and examine the legal implications and the far reaching consequences of Izzy’s actions for her family.
Now, three of the UK’s most important organisations in the field are joining forces to provide the media with facts, evidence and personal testimonies about medicinal cannabis.
CLEAR is the largest drugs policy reform group in the UK with nearly 600,000 followers. The British Medicinal Cannabis Campaign (BMCC) is an independent group consisting of 4,500 members, all of whom are UK-based medicinal cannabis users. UK CBD is the leading distributor of legal, cannabinoid nutraceuticals including the world famous Charlotte’s Web and Mary’s brands.
Roland Gyallay-Pap, managing director of CLEAR, commented:
“Not for the first time, but at a crucial time in the worldwide debate, the issue of medicinal cannabis will be addressed in a British soap. We have high hopes that this will stimulate the debate and bring the absurdity of the UK government’s position into sharp focus.”
Throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, Israel and South America, interest in and the use of medicinal cannabis is growing fast. The UK is now virtually isolated amongst first world countries with the stubborn refusal of government even to consider the evidence. However there is a growing clamour from politicians, scientists and doctors that it must address what is a deeply cruel and evidence-free policy. Hundreds of thousands already use medicinal cannabis and risk a criminal record just for trying to improve their health. In addition they have to deal with a criminal underworld and risk violence, contaminated and low quality product all because government refuses to take responsibility.
There is now an overwhelming body of peer-reviewed, scientific evidence on the safety and efficacy of cannabis as medicine. CLEAR published ‘Medicinal Cannabis: The Evidence’ in April 2015 which has received international acclaim and is now also available in a Spanish language edition. Download here in English or Spanish.
Individual briefings will be available on request to journalists, reporters, media organisations and other interested parties. Briefings will be led by Peter Reynolds, one of the nation’s leading experts on the science, medicine and politics of cannabis, Mark Scott, a representative of BMCC and Nicolas Ellis, founder and managing director of UK CBD.
Please contact CLEAR to arrange a briefing at your premises by appointment. Alternatively, a central London venue can be arranged on request.
My Mother.
My mother, Barbara Reynolds, died peacefully surrounded by her children at about 5.10pm on 29th December 2015.
She was enjoying Christmas but became ill on Boxing Day afternoon and developed pneumonia.
In the last few months she had told us all that she felt her life was complete. She was ready.
Please join us on 15th January 2016 to celebrate her wonderful life.
1.45pm. Chilterns Crematorium, Amersham, HP7 0ND
Peter Reynolds 