MEDIA ADVISORY
Paul Flynn MP’s cross party support builds ahead of
second reading of Elizabeth Brice Bill for the legalisation of cannabis for
medical use
Supporters
include Caroline Lucas MP, Crispin Blunt MP, Frank Field MP & Layla Moran
MP
Friday
23 February 2018
3pm
GMT
Parliament
Square, London
On
Friday 23 February 2018, the United Patients Alliance (UPA) will hold a protest
in front of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, as Paul Flynn MP and UPA
patron introduce the second reading of the Elizabeth Brice Bill for the
legalization of cannabis for medicinal purposes.
The
Bill has growing cross party support from MP’s including Caroline
Lucas (Green and UPA Patron), Layla Moran (Lib Dem and UPA Patron), Tonia Antoniazzi (Lab and UPA Patron), Frank Field (Lab), Mary
Glindon (Lab), Jeff Smith (Lab), Kelvin
Hopkins (Lab), Crispin Blunt
(Con), Michael Fabricant (Con), Martyn Day (SNP), Ronnie Cowan (SNP), Alastair
Carmichael (Lib Dem)
Last
year, on 10 October 2017, as Paul Flynn introduced the first reading of the
Bill, the UPA held a ‘cannabis tea party’ outside the HoP to stimulate critical
debate on the need to allow access to the drug for patients suffering chronic
pain conditions. At 3pm this Friday after the second reading of the Bill, Paul
Flynn will join the UPA outside the HoP to reveal the outcome. If the Bill is passed it will
proceed to committee stage and into law within just a few weeks or months
Available for interview and
photo opportunity | Friday 23 February 2018, 3pm
Who: Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West and UPA patron
Jon Liebling, UPA Political Director. Consumes cannabis to relieve symptoms of
depression and anxiety
Alex Fraser, UPA Co-Founder. Crohn’s patient who consumes cannabis to relieve
his symptoms
Clark French, UPA Co-Founder. Multiple Sclerosis patient who consumes cannabis
to relieve his symptoms
Faye Jones, UPA Director. Rheumatoid Arthritis patient who consumes cannabis to relieve her symptoms
Abby Moore, UPA Director. Endometriosis Patient who consumes cannabis to relieve her symptoms
Faye Jones, UPA Director. Rheumatoid Arthritis patient who consumes cannabis to relieve her symptoms
Abby Moore, UPA Director. Endometriosis Patient who consumes cannabis to relieve her symptoms
+ patient members of UPA and members of the public
When: Friday
23 February 2018, 3pm
Where: Parliament Square
Westminster
London SW1P 3JX
Why: Cannabis is currently classified
as a Schedule 1 drug meaning it is considered to have a high potential for
abuse and no recognizable medical application by the Home Office. It is currently
illegal in the UK. This illegal status means those who need the drug to manage
chronic pain and other symptoms are denied access to it. Thousands of patients
in the UK are being forced to break the law by consuming illegal cannabis or growing
their own from seeds. The United Patients Alliance (UPA), a patient advocacy
group, believes patients in the UK should not be criminalised for using cannabis,
and was founded to challenge the injustice of prosecuting individuals who use
cannabis to help alleviate their symptoms.
Paul
Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, has long been a voice in the call to amend
the law to legalise cannabis for medicinal purposes. Most recently in his
speech to the Commons in July 2017 he called directly for civil disobedience, calling
on people who use cannabis for medicinal purposes to challenge the law and consume
cannabis at Parliament.
United
Patients Alliance (UPA)
www.upalliance.org
@UPAllianceuk
Press contacts
Notes
to Editors
About United Patients Alliance (UPA)
The United Patients
Alliance (UPA) was founded to call attention to the injustice of prosecuting individuals
for treating their chronic conditions with cannabis. Some of the most
vulnerable members of society face up to
fourteen years in prison for consuming a medicine that is legal across North
America and Europe. Despite the wide body of clinical evidence supporting its
use, the UK Government continues to deny patients a medication with a proven
record of safety and efficacy. They need to recognise the well-established
medical benefits of cannabis. We believe that no one should be criminalised
for trying to be well. Being sick can be an isolating experience,
especially if your medicine is illegal and only available on the black market.
The United Patients Alliance is here to support patients through tough times
and advocate on their behalf for safe and legal access to cannabis.
About
Clark French
By consuming cannabis
to treat MS instead of pharmaceuticals Clark saves the NHS over
£30,000 a year. Clark was diagnosed with MS in 2010 in the final year of
his degree at Reading University. Clark has chronic pain, spasms, fatigue,
migraines, tremors and finds it hard to stand up. Cannabis improves all of
these symptoms.
"Cannabis helps me to have a much better quality of life than I get on the medications my doctor can prescribe me. I think it is ridiculous that I can legally take opioids and chemotherapy based treatments which could kill me, but am criminalised for consuming cannabis despite the support of my Neurologist, GP, MS nurse and wider health care team. The UK government needs to act on the evidence which shows that cannabis has medicinal value and change the law immediately".
"Cannabis helps me to have a much better quality of life than I get on the medications my doctor can prescribe me. I think it is ridiculous that I can legally take opioids and chemotherapy based treatments which could kill me, but am criminalised for consuming cannabis despite the support of my Neurologist, GP, MS nurse and wider health care team. The UK government needs to act on the evidence which shows that cannabis has medicinal value and change the law immediately".
About
Alex Fraser
Alex Fraser, 26, has had
Crohn’s disease since he was 19 and uses cannabis to relieve his symptoms. Cannabis stimulates his appetite, reduces his pain
dramatically and helps with sleep. It also helps Alex to keep his weight up,
and without it he fears he may waste away and become scarily underweight, as
many Crohn’s patients do.
“I have tried not
consuming cannabis, and my symptoms always increase dramatically, my pain is
worsened and I often can’t sleep or eat without severe discomfort. I also have
taken prescription meds, and have tried not taking those, and the difference is
minimal. I can safely say that cannabis is the most effective treatment for my
Crohn’s disease that I’ve tried. I hope that, with the help of the UPA I can
have safe, legal access to it as soon as possible”.
About
Jon Liebling
Jon Liebling has suffered with varying
degrees of stress migraines, back pain, anxiety and depression for most of his
adult life, which he has effectively self-managed with cannabis.
“When left alone
by the law, and in every other aspect I have been and am a productive, tax
paying, law abiding citizen, father, son and brother who has never done anything
to harm anyone, and don't accept why I, or the countless others who benefit,
have to suffer more as a result of this uninvited restriction on liberty. From
my perspective, the law itself is a crime. Prescription medicine
has made me worse. The law has threatened me, hurt me and taken my
medicine away. Cannabis has done nothing but help”.
