Doctors debate cannabis...

The motion on medical use, tabled by the Scottish Regional Public Health Committee, was lost by just nine votes after a heated debate on the benefits of the drug. Last year, the conference voted for trials, to begin this October, into the possible medicinal benefits of cannabis. Some sufferers from conditions such as multiple sclerosis and arthritis have found relief of pain through use of the drug.

The proposer of the motion, Dr Stephen Kisely said: "We are not proposing that the corner shop should be able to sell marijuana to anyone who comes through the door, but neither are we promoting the blanket prohibition which is in place at the moment. The legal effects of cannabis are far worse than the medical and psychological effects. People who are prosecuted for possession of cannabis may have their livelihoods destroyed for the use of a compound which has less adverse consequences than alcohol and tobacco. The BMA should stand up and act to help its patients. Making them criminals does not help."

In contrast, Dr Joan Richards suggested that trials on the medical benefits should be conducted before the BMA made calls for legalisation. "We do not know enough about the possible benefits yet," she said. "We should wait for the evidence."

Dr Ian Bogle, Chairman of the BMA, urged the conference to reject the motion. "We have spent many years discussing how to get the public off cigarettes. We do not want to spend the next 20 years talking about how to get the public off cannabis."

Last year, the House of Lords science and technology committee backed the use of cannabinoids - chemicals in cannabis - for medicinal purposes.

(See Alert, no.3, 1998).

The annual conference of the British Medical Association (BMA) has narrowly defeated a motion calling for cannabis to be legalised for medical use. At the same meeting in Belfast, doctors threw out by a large majority another motion calling for the drug to be decriminalised for recreational use.