Human Studies of Cannabinoids and Medicinal Cannabis 721sufferers in 1913, its popularity was in steep decline for a number of reasons:
variable potency of herbal preparations, unreliable sources of supply, poor storage
stability, unpredictable response to oral administration, the growing availability of
potent synthetic medicines, and commercial pressures. An increasingly influential
factor was increasing concern in some countries about recreational use, notably
South Africa, Egypt and the U.S.
These concerns were brought to the 1923 meeting of the League of Nations, and
thence referred for consideration at the 1925 Geneva Convention on the manufac-
ture, sale and movement of dangerous drugs. Signatory nations agreed to enforce
a limitation of the use of cannabis solely for medical or scientific purposes. In 1928
the UK government ratified this convention, but prescription of cannabis remained
possible until the Misuse of Drugs Act (1971) brought down the final curtain. This
Act provides rules for the manufacture, supply and possession of a long list of con-
trolled drugs. For the purposes of determining penalties for malefactors it places
them in three classes according to the “harmfulness attributable to a drug when it
is misused”. On this basis, cannabis and cannabis resin were assigned to Class B
along with amphetamines, barbiturates, codeine and dihydrocodeine. In 2001, the
British Home Secretary asked a leading committee of experts [Advisory Council
on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD)] to review the classification of cannabis in the
light of current scientific evidence. The ACMD carried out a detailed scrutiny of all
the relevant literature and in 2002 concluded that, though certainly not innocuous,
cannabis
... is less harmful than other substances (amphetamines, barbiturates,
codeine-like compounds) within Class B of Schedule 2 to the Misuse of
Drugs Act 1971. The continuing juxtaposition of cannabis with these more
harmful Class B drugs erroneously (and dangerously) suggests that their
harmful effects are equivalent. This may lead to the belief, among cannabis
users, that if they have had no harmful effects from cannabis then other
Class B substances will be equally safe.ACMDrecommendedreclassificationofallcannabispreparationstoClassC,andin
February 2004, despite hostile media comment, the Home Secretary implemented
this advice.
AnimportantissueformedicinalcannabisinBritainisitsinclusioninschedule1
of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations (1985). This means that it belongs to a group of
controlled drugs [alongside lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), raw opium and coca
leaf] that have no recognised medicinal use, and which are totally prohibited for
possession or supply unless authorised by a special licence from the Home Office.
However, the Home Secretary is on record as saying in 2001: “Should, as I believe
it will, this programme (of trials) be proved to be successful, I will recommend
to the Medicines Control Agency that they should go ahead with authorising the
medical use” (UK Parliament 2002).
In the U.S., concern about the recreational use of cannabis had reached fever
pitch by the 1930s (for a full review, see Mead 2004). This was fuelled by some
lurid propaganda largely instigated by the chief of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics,
Harry J. Anslinger (Abel 1980). This highly effective campaign, which generated