is Catalan, is from Barcelona I have read the new you have posted, SJ, & I find it quite interesting. In Madrid, there's a scholarship holder that is investing in the use of Marihuana to treat mental diseases like brain tumours & others. This guy has proved the benefit of cannabiacians, & the government hasn't renewed him the scholarship... yet.. & still has to give him what they owe him. (PP -partido popular- is the party in power -right handed-, with absolute majority..). The government finds it's better investing in Military than this kind of researches... On other hand, CiU (Convergència i Unió) is the party in Catalonia government (also right hand) & have a coalition with PP that helps them governing Catalonia. Because of other parties pressure (left Catalan parties), I guess CiU (Convergència i Unió) represented this time by el Sr. Rius is saying they would support Cannabis consumption by pills in determinated uses for medical purposals. I really think it will be a hard task to legalize cannabis even for medical purposes. CiU is very conservative & is acting because of others pressures. & in Madrid, PP will be the one who really decides, thinking that CiU has nothing else to do than obbey, right now, & is not very interested in any change. I will just point another subject happened in the last elections that took place in Catalonia (sometime march 2000). ERC (Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, left republican party) or Iniciativa per Catalunya els Verds (the Green party) wanted to take a politician to the Catalan Parliament: a woman called Maria (sorry I forgot the surname) since they agree on legalizing Marihuana, to reform Maria (that's the way we call MJ) laws in here. Besides some young smokers, the participation wasn't the highest.. I think we will still need some years in here to advance in these subjects... But I have to add that Catalonia (except Girona) is the most lefty handed place in Spain. & we can make ourselves be heard without the need of any terrorist bands.
By Xavier Bosch, Barcelona Source: British Medical Journal All five political parties in the Catalan parliament in Spain have signed a proposal to legalise the use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes. The agreement asks the Catalan government to negotiate with the Spanish authorities so that cannabis-either as a drug or as a standardised extract of the plant-may be used to treat medical disorders. Once the bill is approved in the Catalan parliament, it may be submitted to the Spanish parliament for discussion and eventual voting. The initiative came from a collective of 300 women with breast cancer called the "Agata group" (after Saint Agata, who had her breasts removed under torture) and from a journalist, Nuria Nogueras, who recently died of the disease and who found the drug helpful during chemotherapy. Since last September, the Agata collective has held meetings with representatives of the five Catalan parties, as well as with the Catalan health department and oncologists and pharmacologists. After these meetings, all political parties agreed to draft and release a consensus report to the Catalan parliament to decriminalise the therapeutic use of cannabis. But the measure, even if approved in the Catalan parliament-as is forecast-can take effect only if the Spanish ministry of health gives the go-ahead. The ministry is the only body with the power to authorise new drugs in Spain. Mr Eduard Rius, head of the Catalan health department, has recently sent a letter to Spain's health minister, Ms Celia Villalobos, asking her to "back totally the importation of foreign drugs containing cannabis derivatives." Mr Rius, who is from the "Convergència i Unió" conservative party that is running the Catalan government, mainly supports the consumption of cannabis in the form of pills as it makes it possible "to control the dose more accurately." The Catalan socialist and green parties, however, advocate smoking the drug because, according to them, "the efficacy is higher." The report said that cannabis contains over 60 chemical compounds, which can be classified into two main groups: (a) tetrahydrocannabinoids and (b) cannabidiols and cannabigerols. Whereas the first causes "psychoactive effects and mitigates vomiting and anxiety in disorders that require aggressive treatment, such as cancer or AIDS," the second group has "no psychoactive effects but has anti-inflammatory efficacy, especially in arthritis." The consensus report also pointed out that despite scientific and clinical evidence for the medical potential of cannabis, its illegality means that it is not an option for many people. "Only a privileged and well informed minority can take advantage of this therapeutic resource," it said. The report highlighted the properties of cannabis to alleviate pain in cancer and AIDS and said that it is especially useful in the fight against "hunger loss, anxiety, and chemotherapy related vomiting." A list of recent reports on the topic is also included. Mr Ramón Colom, general director of the Drug Addictions and AIDS Department of the Catalan government, said that if the health ministry approves cannabis as a new drug, people might be able to start using it by the end of the year. A spokesman for the health ministry said that regardless of the Catalan measure the Spanish National Plan on Drugs-a Home Office based body-is currently studying the potential medical use of cannabis, and a decision will be taken on the basis of the recommendations of the commissioned studies under way. On behalf of the Agata group, Mr Xavier Capdevila, Mrs Nogueras's husband, said: "Since the beginning, we had wished that the initiative was agreed by all political parties and not capitalised by only one." Mr Capdevila added that a year ago when his wife started a second cycle of chemotherapy "cannabis helped her to feel better, to make vomiting disappear and to start to be hungry." Complete Title: Catalan Parliament Pushes for Legalisation of Cannabis as Therapy Source: British Medical Journal (UK) Author: Xavier Bosch, Barcelona Published: March 3, 2001 Copyright: 2001 by the British Medical Journal. Contact: bmj@bmj.com Website: http://www.bmj.com/