Cannabis Legalised by Czech Republic
In an unprecedented show of support for the global medical cannabis community, the Supreme Court in the Czech Republic, has decided in favour of growing cannabis destined for medical applications, according to a news report broadcast by Radio Praha in Prague.
The decision comes on the back of a recent court case which saw a pensioner from the "Central Bohemia" region of the Czech Republic, who was twice convicted of growing cannabis on a vegetable patch, which she then used in the treatment of an ulcer, and chronic foot pain.
If you are a patient who uses cannabis to relieve sometimes painful and debilitating symptoms, ours is a European Dis-Union.
Even though a doctors note supported the evidence, the local regional court in the town of Nymburk twice found her guilty of illegal production and possession of marijuana and she was given a suspended prison sentence of two years.
But the Supreme Court has now overruled the previous verdicts and ordered the lower, Prague Municipal Court to re-examine the case's. Under the new Supreme Court ruling this should see the lady in question receive an acquital, instead of a two year suspended prison sentence and at last it would seem, common sense prevails.
The Czech Republic isn't alone in terms of European member states which recognise the efficacy of cannabis as a workeable alternative to more traditional clinical medicines.
It was in the summer of 2007 that Germany allowed its first medical marijuana patient to legally buy medical grade marijuana.
German regional newspaper 'Suddeutsche Zeitung' reported that the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices' decision to permit the 51-year-old female multiple sclerosis patient, to legally buy cannabis from a pharmacy was 'unprecedented'.
Until this change in the rules came into being, doctors, were only allowed to prescribe a synthetic form of cannabis called Dronabinol. A substance which is not covered by health insurance, and which is known to bring on paranoia amongst its users.
Patients who acquired it without a doctor's prescription risked prosecution.
Under the institute's ruling, the woman, who was identified only as Claudia H., is allowed to buy a "standardized extract" from the cannabis plant at a pharmacy for a one-year period. A doctor has to monitor the medicinal marijuana therapy and the drug must be kept in a safe to prevent theft.
The Munich newspaper said several scientific studies showed cannabis can ease pain and spasms often associated with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating nerve ailment. It's also known to prevent weight loss among cancer and AIDS patients, and whilst these details have been around the public domain for many years, only now is it becoming more widely accepted as fact.
The Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal have also made "policy changes" to reflect the need for an alternative set of rules for those who use cannabis from medical neccessity and the liberalisation of cannabis seems to be paying off.
In Holland, whilst (illegal) class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine continue to be problematic to society, the same thing can't be said of cannabis, which Pan-European drug league tables pay witness to.
Contrary to the decriminalisation of cannabis causing an upturn in drug user figures, Holland has consistently finished at the bottom of the drug users league for Europe. Which caused some "book-cooking " from the United Nations as they strived to maintain a vice like grip on European drug law.
Chief Constables up and down the country, with the noteable exception North Wales Chief of Police Richard Brunstrom, have constantly bleated for a change in law.
ACPO, (the Association of Chief Police Officers), after supporting David Blunkett in reclassifying cannabis from Class B to class C back in 04, have now reversed their stance, calling for cannabis laws to be toughened up, and coming up with all sorts of reasons why "their method" of eradicating drugs from our streets will work. This time?
Once upon a time, in the dark days pre-internet, it was possible to keep true facts hidden away, buried, and available only on a need to know basis.
Magazines and newspapers long ago set the tone for what little reporting there is, involving cannabis.
But in these days of freedom of speech, and the Internet providing a platform for those who can be bothered to use it, the word is out on cannabis and its medical applications.
Governments and administrations in Europe and further afield, are turning wholesale, to allowing the use of medical grade cannabis, (which differs not one jot from the home-grown, super-dupa skunk the press, and government have such a "downer" on), and which surely begs the question, "If using cannabis here in the UK, gives you cancer, schizophrenia, makes your semen not quite as "potent" as it used to be, and makes your teeth fall out, then why are they allowed to use it in all these other countries"?
Perhaps the Health Minister, (Alan Johnson MP) would like to comment?
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