On Thursday 7th September the Medicinal Cannabis Reform Scotland group met with cross party representatives and stakeholders to discuss access to medicinal cannabis in Scotland. At the meeting Steve Rolles from Transform Drug Policy Foundation, and the Durham Police Crime and Victims Commissioner Ron Hogg outlined the current legislative framework and how police forces and local authorities around the UK are stepping back from policing cannabis for personal and medicinal use to focus on serious organised crime, and harm reduction. There was also representation from the newly formed Scottish Industrial Cannabis Association set up by the founder of Loveburgh, a company trading in CBD and hemp products.
For more information on the group see their facebook page MCReform Scotland.
The outcome of this meeting was extremely positive. The meeting was hosted by the Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton, and was attended by MSP’s from the Scottish Conservatives, the Scottish Greens and the SNP. The main outcome was an agreement by those present that more needed to be done to investigate medicinal cannabis in Scotland, and that medicinal cannabis users needed to be more widely consulted on any moves to devolve power to the Scottish Government, and how it is implemented.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, in collaboration wiht MCRS, will start the process of setting up a Scottish All Party Paliamentary Group, or something similar, on medicinal cannabis in Scotland. The SDPC will collaborate with MCRS and the broader stakeholder community including the Scottish Government with a view to creating meaning, respectful and deliberative dialogue between stakeholders as we navigate the complex policy environment.