Posts Tagged ‘Jim Starr’
SECOND UPDATE On Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
This is the third instalment in this story.
1. Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
2. Update On Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
Eventually The Guardian took some notice. See here.
Despite the pleas of those in pain and suffering, the Home Office was talking to Mary O’Hara of The Guardian but not to them. Dozens if not hundreds of medicinal cannabis users had written to the Home Office asking for confirmation that they could go to Holland for a prescription. Not a word was heard.
Jim Starr, the subject of this story, wrote to his MP, and then he wrote again. He heard nothing. He wrote to the Home Office, chasing up his application for a personal import licence. He heard nothing. He wrote again.
Richard Drax, the first timer, newly elected Tory MP for Dorset South just happens to be my MP too, so I wrote to him on Jim’s behalf.
Jim has heard nothing. Richard Drax asked me not to mention his name in any article about Jim. Jim wrote again. I wrote again. We have heard nothing.
Jim’s medicine has run out. We told the Home Office and Richard Drax that it was an urgent medical emergency. We have heard nothing.
I spent the last week on the telephone and exchanging emails with the Home Office. This is the result:
A Home Office spokesperson said:
The UK’s position is clear – cannabis is dangerous and has no medicinal benefits in herbal form. It remains illegal for UK residents to possess cannabis in any form.
Britons benefit from reciprocal laws which allow EU nationals, in limited circumstances, to travel with controlled medicines. We are working with European authorities to ensure the system is robust and not open to abuse.
The Home Office says you can import cannabis to the UK and use it without restriction provided you “are resident in a country where that drug is legally prescribed”. So it’s OK for the Dutch and the Belgians and the Spanish and the Italians and the Czechs and the Poles (and many others) to smoke weed in Britain but not if you’re British.
This is clearly unequal, discriminatory, unjust and unsustainable in law but the Home Office is not about to give in. The only way to resolve this is that either someone must appeal a conviction all the way to the Supreme Court or there must be an application for judicial review.
Stay tuned for the next exciting instalment.
In the meantime, Jim and thousands like him will manage as best as they can.
He’s still heard nothing from either the Home Office or Richard Drax.
UPDATE On Legal Medicinal Cannabis In Britain
My article on Jim Starr and his medicine has been bouncing around the internet for nearly two weeks now. It was offered to every quality national newspaper and The Daily Mail but none have seen fit even to cover the story. The Daily Telegraph, to its credit, covered the BMJ article about how cannabis prohibition in the US is counterproductive. Other than that all the press can be bothered with is trivia about celebrities and cannabis. The truly important news that tens of thousands of people now have legal access to the medicine they need is of no interest to the erudite editors of Fleet Street. I wonder what their readers would think?
The feedback I have received has been overwhelming. I know of hundreds of people who have written to the Home Office asking for confirmation that they may follow in Jim’s footsteps. Many have telephoned and it seems a different story or excuse has been given to each one. What is certain is that the prohibitionists and legislators who care not one jot for others’ pain and suffering are in disarray.
I can now add further clarification and evidence in support of the rights of those who need medicinal cannabis. Surely now those cruel politicians and civil servants who are depriving so many British citizens of the medicine they need must relent. The truth is out!
1. Under the United Nations Single Convention On Narcotic Drugs, the UN International Narcotics Control Board determines the documentation required for the transport of such medicines across international borders as, simply, “a valid medical prescription”.
2. Under article 23 of the Geneva Convention (which specifically applies to all parties even outside time of war), protection is provided for the transport of medicines across borders.
3. Article 75 of the Schengen Agreement also provides protection for persons to carry their medicine throughout the EU. The UK has been bound by this since 1st January 2005. In support of this, I refer to the proceedings in the European Parliament on 1st December 2009 on the Right To Freedom Of Movement In The EU, in which the European Commission Advocate stated unequivocally that article 75 of Schengen is “binding” on the UK. I also refer to the letter from the Home Office dated 14th December 2009 to Mr Noel McCullagh concerning Bedrocan medicinal herbal cannabis.
UPDATE 9th November 2010
Noel McCullagh has asked me to remove the reproduction of the letter to him from the Home Office. He originally published the letter on this site himself but now for reasons only known to him he wants it removed. Suffice to say that in it the Home Office confirmed he was entitled to import Bedrocan herbal medicinal cannabis under the protection of a Schengen certificate.
Cannabis Law Breakthrough
Yesterday I revealed how Jim “Pinky” Starr has managed to obtain legal medicinal cannabis in Britain. See here. I’ve been asked to clarify whether the method set out in my article applies throughout Europe.
I’m not a lawyer. I believe that this information is correct but don’t blame me if James Brokenshire decides he’s going to ride roughshod over justice and European law!
All I know is that (with due respect to my friends with genuine illness), if I could develop the right aches and pains, I’d be straight over to Holland!
As I understand it, Ireland is now the only EU country where this wouldn’t work. However, that won’t last long. The reason that the procedure set out works is because of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area#EU_member_states_with_opt-outs
So, the only remaining problem is actually enabling UK doctors to prescribe medicinal herbal cannabis and developing a local supply chain. It seems to me that as we’re all part of the EU this is going to be impossible to stop.
I think that the breakthrough I’ve been campaigning for since the late 1970s has finally happened!