Advice on legislation or legal policy issues contained in this paper is provided for use in parliamentary debate and for related parliamentary purposes. This paper is not professional legal opinion.
Briefing Paper No. 11/1999 by Gareth Griffith and Marie Swain
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- It should be emphasised that this paper does not consider the
social/recreational use of cannabis/marijuana and the arguments for and against
its legalisation or decriminalisation in this context. The paper's sole concern
is with the separate and distinct issue of the medical use of
cannabis/marijuana.
- In recent months two major reports on the medical use of
cannabis/marijuana have been released: the first in November 1998 by the House
of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, the second in March 1999
by the United States Institute of Medicine. The purpose of this paper is to
present an overview of these reports and responses to them, as well as to offer
some background to the debate concerning the medical use of cannabis/marijuana
in the US and UK.
- Debate on the medical use of cannabis/marijuana has also
occurred in Australia in recent years and this is discussed, along with a
comment on the current legal position in this country, in the last section of
the paper.
- Further, the reports mentioned above are by no means isolated
publications. At least five other major reports have been released in recent
years. These additional reports were issued by: the Health Council of the
Netherlands; the American Medical Association House of Delegates; the British
Medical Association; the US National Institute of Health; and the World Health
Organization. The main findings of these reports are also set out in this
paper.
