Cannabis demonstration announcement from board of NORML UK
For a number of years an idea has widely circulated within the UK cannabis community, with every activist laying claim in someway that it was unique to them. Now is the time when the idea becomes a set of plans and shortly an event, which the NORML UK team believes will help promote positive change to the cannabis laws in the UK, and raise further public awareness as to the reality of cannabis as medicine.
On 9th October 2013, NORML UK will be staging a peaceful protest by way of a static demonstration in close proximity to the Houses of Parliament in London. Exact times and the assembly point will be announced through the events page and our website a couple of days prior to the event. We would advise supporters of this event to arrive in central London in time to assemble just before 12 noon, and it is envisaged the protest will conclude within 3 hours. The event will be a static, peaceful assembly and we will advise supporters with mobility problems the best ways to access and exit the assembly point.
The purpose of this peaceful protest is to demonstrate the hypocrisy and the flaws of cannabis legislation both here in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. The attendees will mainly comprise legal and illegal cannabis consumers smoking or consuming their cannabis within the same public space. We will be making the distinctions by way of large banners, which tell the story for each group of patients.
Most supporters will be people with diagnosed medical conditions who use cannabis, prescribed or otherwise, to treat the symptoms of their medical condition. A few of those in attendance will be residents from The Netherlands, who are permitted under the terms of the Schengen Agreement, to bring their prescribed herbal cannabis, to the UK, and consume when and wherever their needs dictate.
NORML UK wishes to highlight the hypocrisy of the Cannabis laws, especially as at this juncture the UK government is seeking to amend The Misuse of Drugs Act which will schedule cannabis and Sativex differently. Giving Sativex legitimate and therapeutic use. Sativex is a whole plant extract, made into a tincture spray, and available on prescription in the UK and an increasing number of other countries. However, in the UK Sativex is so expensive that most doctors budgets do not allow them to write any NHS prescriptions for it. The product is manufactured by GW Pharmaceuticals, under license in the UK. They are permitted to grow tons of cannabis every year in the UK in their factories, to produce a product which is not affordable to most NHS trusts/councils, yet the government still wishes to prosecute people who have been denied Sativex prescriptions due to funding issues, and grow their own medicine out of desperation, in order to gain relief from their symptoms. Where on earth is the logic, which allows a plant and a whole plant extract to be scheduled and considered differently?
NORML UK are looking for UK residents who are currently prescribed Sativex, either privately or through the NHS, and for patients with MS and other health problems for which Sativex is indicated, but who have been denied a prescription for Sativex. If you are one of these people, and would be happy to join the event or share your story, then please send a message to jo@norml-uk.org
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