Its time to legalise Cannabis

The Commons home affairs select committee says after taking evidence from all sides of the drug debate, including from Russell Brand and Richard Branson, that "now, more than ever" there is a case for a fundamental review of all UK drug policy. "This is a critical, now-or-never moment for serious reform," they say. http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/dec/10/david-cameron-commission-drugs-laws

Let science be the judge of medicine: if it works, it works Science doesn't ignore natural remedies: it separates the ones that are effective from the ones that are not Yesterday, we reported that another “natural remedy” may actually work as well. Chinese researchers have found that an extract of honeysuckle could fight flu; specifically, a bit of RNA (DNA’s simpler cousin) called MIR 2911 seems to interfere with the workings of the influenza virus. The researchers bought their honeysuckle from a Chinese herbal medicine shop, and made it into a sort of tea, in impeccable folk-remedy style. If the results are confirmed, it’s quite exciting news: viruses generally, and the fast-mutating flu virus in particular, are tricky things to treat, and flu causes plenty of misery (killing about 100 people a year in Britain, and hundreds of thousands worldwide). The “if it’s confirmed” is a big if, because the trials have only been carried out on mice. The researchers themselves are optimistic to the point of overexcitability, pushing it as the first “virological penicillin”, although an expert I spoke to was very wary about it, saying that there are plenty of hurdles before it could be a real, practical medicine. The reason people are getting excited about this is because Chinese herbal medicine types have been using honeysuckle tea to treat colds and flu for 1,000 years. The hippyish alternative-medicine types will be crowing. You can almost hear it: “Not so cocky now, eh, Mr Scientist Man?” But that’s missing the point. Lots of real, actual medicines come from “natural” sources; the original, bacteriological penicillin was derived from a mould. Aspirin, as Minchin notes, is a willow-bark product. St John’s wort works to relieve low moods and anxiety (and, I should warn you, interacts dangerously with some other medicines). Digitalin is extracted from foxglove and is used to control heart rate. Quinine, the first antimalarial, comes from the cinchona tree. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/11146571/Let-science-be-the-judge-of-medicine-if-it-works-it-works.html