Evidence Pertaining To Charges Under MODA 1971

The request was successful.

Dear Home Office,

I write to you under the Freedom of Information act 2000 to request four
pieces of evidence:

1. FOUNDATION EVIDENCE for the claim that all genus of cannabis meet
the currently accepted criteria for a schedule 1 substance in its raw
form.

2. FOUNDATION EVIDENCE for the claim that cannabinoid preparations meet
the currently accepted criteria for a schedule 1 substance.

3. FOUNDATION EVIDENCE for claim that cannabis is a 'controlled'
substance in the UK and who is making that claim of control.

4. FOUNDATION EVIDENCE for what is considered misuse of raw cannabis
and its various preparations.

Further Clarification:

What I mean by foundation evidence is the empirical evidence which
demonstrates that cannabis meets the criteria for the schedule 1 status as
legislated for (schedule 1 drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as
drugs with no currently accepted medical use and high potential for
abuse), evidence that cannabis is more harmful than substances/chemicals
of lower schedules (2-5) and the evidence you hold from the ACMD which
justifies the class B penalty classification.

Yours faithfully,

Martin Crook

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office  Freedom of Information Requests
Mailbox.

This is to acknowledge  receipt of your email.

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FOI Requests, Home Office

Mr. Crook,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request.

This has been assigned to a caseworker (case ref 60476). We will aim to send you a full response by 21/10/2020 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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SOC Group Correspondence, Home Office

1 Attachment

*Please DO NOT reply to this email address. Correspondence to above email
will not be actioned. 

If you wish to raise a Freedom of Information (FOI) request or related
matter, you must direct your enquiry to the Home Office Information Rights
Team at [1][Home Office request email] 

 

Dear Requester, 

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. 

 

Please find response to your query attached. 

 

Yours Sincerely, 

Freedom of Information  

Home Office 

 

 

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References

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1. mailto:[Home Office request email]

Dear Home Office,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Home Office's handling of my FOI request 'Evidence Pertaining To Charges Under MODA 1971'.

It is now commonly known that cannabis was unfairly vilified and ultimately prohibited, based on
ideological, illogical and racist reasoning for the benefit of corporate interests (especially the
pharmaceutical and petrochemical industries).
This led to the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act in the US, the Schedule 1 Status within the 1961 UN Drug
Convention and ultimately the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act in the UK.
There has never been any convincing scientific evidence of physical, mental or social harm from
cannabis use, to justify prohibition. Alcohol and tobacco are considered to be traditional drugs. The
use of Alcohol and tobacco results in approximately 90% of all drug related deaths yet there is not one
recorded death in history of toxicological mortality from the responsible natural consumption of
cannabis.
Alcohol also causes a great deal of social harm due to its propensity for violence in the home and in
public spaces not to mention the significant escalating costs to the NHS and Police force.
Moreover, cannabis has been used as a medicine for over 100 diseases for thousands of years.
The Police Federation advised in 2000, ‘Until 1973, tincture of cannabis had been available for medical
use for over 100 years. In 1973, the medical use of cannabis was prohibited in the United Kingdom
following a long decline in its use in favour of what were considered more reliabledrugs.’
Up until November 2018, the Government have consistently claimed that cannabis has no therapeutic
value, a statement at odds with its history in thepharmacopeia.
The Home Secretary and Drugs Ministers of the time were closely related to those financially
benefitting from the development of cannabis-based medicines by GW Pharmaceuticals.
The lack of access to whole plant cannabis medicines despite announcement that medical cannabis
was available, combined with pressure being placed on the CBD industry to eliminate ‘full spectrum’
products, indicates that corporate interests continue to place pressure on Governments to continue
the prohibition of cannabis. It is clearly no more harmful to health than coffee or sugar, substances
that we are advised to use in moderation. It is not addictive and has clear medicinal use and so does
not fit the criteria of a schedule 1 substance.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs(ACMD) review ofthe classification of cannabis concluded
that ‘the high use of cannabis is not associated with major health problems for the individual or
society’, the criteria required by the MoDA. However, the ACMD report continued, ‘cannabis is not a
harmless substance’ which would imply that any substance with a degree of possible harm could be
prohibited. Putting aside the evident harms caused by substances such as alcohol, tobacco and
caffeine, this would also surely include substances such assugar?
To this day, the UK Government continue to declare that they have no intention of legalising cannabis
and that they have clear scientific evidence that cannabis causes harm to physical and mental health
and harm to society.
Following our assessment of available research, it is clear that there is no and never has been
any scientific evidence to justify the prohibition of cannabis and that the prohibition has caused
serious harm to the physical, mental, societal and environmental aspects of our lives not to mention
the damage caused to people’s freedoms, families and job prospects by having persecuted
otherwise law abiding citizens through the misuse of the existing criminal justice system for the past
50 years.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

Yours faithfully,

Martin Crook

FOI Requests, Home Office

Thank you for contacting the Home Office  Freedom of Information Requests
Mailbox.

This is to acknowledge  receipt of your email.

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FOI Requests, Home Office

Mr. Crook,

Thank you for contacting the Home Office with your request for an Internal Review of FoI case ref 60476.

This has been assigned to a caseworker and we aim to send you a full response by 09/12/2020 which is twenty working days from the date we received your request.

If you have any questions then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thank you,

P. Zebedee
FOI Requests
Home Office

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FOI Responses, Home Office

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Crook

 

Please find response to your Internal Review attached.

 

Kind regards

 

Home Office

 

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