The humedi site has been in a state of semi-limbo for the past couple of months. This was due to my personal life collapsing around me: I ended up homeless, living in a hostel, and having to fight a battle with the benefits agency, NHS and the local council. My health declined to a level where I was virtually unable to leave the hostel, was using mobility scooters when I was able to, and was totally cut off from the internet. I've since won many of my battles (I now have a council flat and DLA) and my health has improved to a level where I can be of use to Humedi, now that I am not dealing with the stress of what appeared at the time to be a proxy war waged against me.

I am now back, although things are going to change with Humedi. The battle lines have been drawn, and we are going full-charge ahead. The focus on medicinal distribution has now changed to that of all-out activism and lobbying. Please read further...

Also, the work involved in vetting members and administrating the site and cannabis distribution system is too much work for me to take onboard with my current health situation. The other active members of Humedi are also ill with various chronic ailments - we are an organisation of sick people, helping sick people at the end of the day! As the membership has grown exponentially, the administrators have been dropping off like flies.

Whilst medicine will more likely than not be available through Humedi members, the focus of the organisation is now going to be activism and lobbying. The reason? The governments decision to continue to deny medical users their much needed medicine.

"Thank you for your petition seeking the legalisation of cannabis.

The Government has no intention of legalising cannabis. In response to the Home Affairs Committee report on The Government's Drugs Policy: Is It Working? in 2002, we stated that "We do not accept that legalisation and regulation is now, or will be in the future, an acceptable response to the presence of drugs" and that includes cannabis.

Whilst there is every sympathy for those with debilitating illnesses and chronic pain who are looking to alleviate their symptoms and who may not find adequate relief from existing medication. The Government's view that cannabis is and will remain a controlled, illicit drug for good reasons.

When recommending the reclassification of the drug from Class B to Class C under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asked for it to be clearly understood that cannabis is unquestionably harmful. It has a number of acute and chronic health effects and prolonged use can induce dependence.

Most cannabis is smoked and smoking, in any form, is dangerous. Even the occasional use of cannabis can pose significant dangers for people with mental health problems, such as schizophrenia, and particular efforts need to be made to encourage abstinence in such individuals. The Government believes that it clearly makes sense, on health grounds, for cannabis to remain a controlled drug whose unauthorised production (including cultivation), supply and possession for whatever purpose are and will remain illegal.

The Government understands the reasons for your opposition to the prohibition of cannabis and your support for legalisation of the drug and control of its quality in a regulated way. However, we have concluded that the disadvantages of legalisation would outweigh the benefits.

Legalisation would run counter to the Government's health and education messages. Our message to all - and to young people in particular - is that all controlled drugs, including cannabis, are harmful and no one should take them. To legalise the possession of cannabis for personal consumption would send the wrong message to the majority of young people who do not take drugs on a regular basis, if at all, with the potential risk of increased drug use and abuse.

The Government's objective is to reduce the use of all illegal drugs - including cannabis - substantially, not to encourage increased consumption due to more ready access to increased supply. While our drugs laws cannot be expected to eliminate drug use, there is no doubt that they do help to limit use and deter experimentation.

Among other things, the prohibition on cannabis and many other drugs was introduced by UN Convention specifically for protecting public health and welfare. On the human rights front, it is widely agreed that the law has a function in protecting public health and welfare, including protecting people from the consequences of their own actions - compare, for example, speed limits, seat belts, safety and crash helmets, tobacco health warnings, etc. The Government must balance the rights of individuals on the one hand and the greater public health and welfare considerations on the other.

Whilst the Government has no intention of legalising the use of cannabis in its raw form for medicinal purposes, we have said that we would seek Parliament's agreement to make any necessary changes to the law to enable the prescription of cannabis-based medicine, for the purposes of relieving pain, but not before the granting of product approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

It would not be appropriate for the Government to circumvent or undermine the well-established process attached to the evaluation of the safety, quality and effectiveness of all prospectively prescribable products by the MHRA. It is a process, which is designed to protect public health. Doctors must be confident about what they prescribe. In order to protect public health, the Government faces difficulty in making any changes to the law unless and until we are satisfied that the benefits have been formally established by the statutorily recognised means. This position is supported by the British Medical Association."

http://www.pm.gov.uk/output/Page12399.asp

 I cannot begin to describe how riled I am. They do not even begin to address the situation from the sick's point of view. What good is sympathy when you are crippled by chronic pain, spastisity, shakes, paralysis and incontinence when without cannabis? We know it works for us. Medical science has provided us scientific proof. Mankind was using cannabis medicinally and safely for 15,000 years before it was banned in 1971.

Many of our members believe that bribes (or should I say party donations) from the major pharmacutical companies are behind the governments' stance regarding medicinal cannabis use. They aim to lose tens/hundreds of millions of pounds worth of revenue if cannabis was legalised for medicinal use. My prescriptions last year would have cost the tax-payer over £8000 if I had taken them for the entire year. I was only on 3 medications. Some of our members are on 15-20 different medications a day. Its a multi-million pound industry, where legal drug dealers (doctors/pharmacists) provide dangerous chemical poisons with horrendous side effects. Cannabis is the only medicine that I currently need, and one that I will fight to the end to win the right to use. There are many members who feel as strong as I.

What little energy I have is better served actively lobbying the government to get this ridiculous view changed. I am planning to visit London with other active members. We plan to document with camcorders our fight to get some questions answered. If they think that they can continue to persecute and ignore us, and think that we will simply shut up, go away, and be ill... well, they've got another think coming!

Finally, to those who are waiting for accounts to be verified or who are waiting for email responses since the end of May, please be patient. I am tackling them singlehandedly, but the amount of time that I can work each day is limited by my health situation. If you signed up for the sole intention of procurring free cannabis, then I am sorry,  until supply exceeds demand, and more helpers come forward, then that service will not be available to new members. 

The site will shortly be opened up so that anyone can post articles and use the forums (although everything will still be moderated). We hope that more members will stand up with us and be counted.

Being ill is not a crime.

What the government is doing to us, is.

Please check the site for updates over the forthcoming week or so!

- Stuart Wyatt