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An alliance of medical experts, MPs and peers are to call for cannabis to be legalised for medical use.

Campaigners say it is ‘irrational’ the drug is still banned when evidence shows it helps sufferers of arthritis and chronic pain.

A survey by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Policy Reform found 90% of patients who use cannabis reported some improvement in their condition, while 86% said it provided ‘great relief’.

The group noted that access to medical cannabis is legal in 25 US states and in Canada, Australia, Israel, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, The Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Italy, Malta, Czech Republic, Jamaica and Croatia.

But in the UK it remains a Schedule 1 substance and is classified as having medical value.

If enacted such a plan could open the door to cannabis eventually being used on the NHS - but the Home Office has shot down the group's report.

(Image: profmichaelbarnes.co.uk)

The group commissioned neurologist Professor Mike Barnes to review evidence from the around the world.

His report concludes there is good evidence that medical cannabis helps alleviate the symptoms of chronic pain, spasticity - often associated with multiple sclerosis, nausea and vomiting, particularly in the context of chemotherapy - and in the management of anxiety.

Prof Barnes said: “We analysed over 20,000 scientific and medical reports.

“The results are clear. Cannabis has a medical benefit for a wide range of conditions.

“I believe that with greater research, it has the potential to help with an even greater number of conditions.

“But this research is being stifled by the Government’s current classification of cannabis as having no medical benefit.”

(Image: Daniel Zgombic/Getty)

A Populus survey for the End Our Pain campaign, which is fighting for a change in the law, found public support for reform.

Some 68% supported allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis where they considered it would help their patients, with 11% opposed, 17% neither opposing nor supporting and 4% saying they did not know.

Labour MP Frank Field said: “Britain is lagging behind much of the developed world by failing to grant very sick patients legal access to cannabis to help ease their chronic pain or other severe symptoms.

(Image: Julian Hamilton/Daily Mirror)

“Hundreds of thousands of people in our country are forced to decide between putting up with unbearable pain, spasticity or chronic nausea or alternatively, breaking the law.

“Compassion demands that we grant those people legal access to prescribed cannabis if their doctor feels it will make life more bearable.”

Crossbench peers Baroness Molly Meacher, co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group said: “The findings of our inquiry and review of evidence from across the world are clear.

“Cannabis works as a medicine for a number of medical conditions. “The evidence has been strong enough to persuade a growing number of countries and US states to legalise access to medical cannabis.

poll loading Should cannabis be legalised? 500+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO

“Against this background, the UK scheduling of cannabis as a substance that has no medical value is irrational.”

Campaign director of End Our Pain, Peter Carroll, said: “We estimate that over 1 million people in the UK take cannabis for medical reasons.

“All these people are at risk of police and court action. The poll shows that the British public understand that these people are patients, not criminals.

“We urge the government to respond positively to the results of this poll, to today’s Parliamentary report, and the review of global evidence published alongside it.”

But a Home Office spokesperson said: "This Government has no plans to legalise cannabis. There is a substantial body of scientific and medical evidence to show that cannabis is a harmful drug which can damage people's mental and physical health.

"It is important that medicines are thoroughly trialled to ensure they meet rigorous standards before being placed on the market. There is a clear regime in place, administered by the Medicines and Healthcare Products regulatory Agency to enable medicines, including those containing controlled drugs, to be developed.”