WATCH Labour MP urges medicinal cannabis users to take the drug outside parliament
2 min read
A veteran MP has called on people who use cannabis for medicinal purposes to take the drug outside the Houses of Parliament in a bid to force the Government to make it legal.
Labour former frontbencher Paul Flynn called on medicinal smokers to: "Break the law! Come here (to Parliament) and use cannabis here!"
His surprising comments came in a Commons debate about drug policy in which the divide between MPs on the issue was laid bare.
The Newport West MP argued those who smoke cannabis for conditions such as multiple sclerosis should be able to do so without fear of the law.
He said: "Most of the countries in the world allow this most ancient of medicines... used for 5000 years in every continent in the world for medicinal purposes.
"I would call on people, and I know we're not supposed to do this, to break the law - to come here and use cannabis here and see what happens, and challenge the Government, the authorities, to arrest them and take them in.
"That's the only way it will get through the mind of the Government, which is set in concrete. Let's see them do that."
Elsewhere in the debate Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb reiterated the party's demand for cannabis to be legalised regardless of its use.
He argued it was in the interests of public health to create a regulated market for the drug.
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