hello, it's wednesday, it's 9am. i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. is it time to legalise cannabis? the government's announced an inquiry into its medicinal use, and has ruled out further relaxation, but is full legalisation inevitable? we've had such a huge repsonse from you about this subject that today we've brought together people on all sides of the debate in the next hour. my son started smoking cannabis at 1a. that was 15 years ago. it has had a devastating effect on his eye. magdeburg on george freeman, conservative mp and former minister for medical regulation under the bonnet about. i think we quickly need to license all medicinal use cannabis and we should have a debate about it. i'm a doctor who specialises in drug policy, sue price. i believe that cannabis should be legalised for medical and

recreational use. where do you stand on these really important issues? we wa nt to on these really important issues? we want to view your expenses and how you feel about legalising its use for medicinal and recreational purposes. also this morning. also, after waiting for decades, today families of patients who died at gosport hospital in the 80s and 90s finally hear the outcome of an inquiry into how their loved ones died. justice for all the families will be if there are convictions in a criminal court, whether it is their particular case or not. we'll have the latest. also this morning... as anger grows around the world over the separation of immigrant children from their parents at the us border with mexico, we speak to the photographer who took this searing image of a migrant girl

from honduras being separated from her mum. hello, welcome to the programme. we're live until 11am. are you worried about the prospect of the law on medicinal use of cannabis being changed? if it happens, are you worried it could lead to further relaxation of drugs policy? or do you agree with the former tory party leader william hague that the current system is broken and that full legalisation is the best way forward? we'll be debating this until 10am so get in touch with your experiences. use the hashtag victorialive and if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate. our top news story today. an inquiry into hundreds of deaths at gosport war memorial hospital in hampshire will publish its findings this morning. a previous investigation found that over 12 years from 1988, patients, many of them elderly, were almost routinely given

powerful painkilling drugs. it concluded that the drugs had "almost certainly" shortened the lives of some patients. despite three police investigations, no one has ever been charged with a criminal offence. our health correspondent, catherine burns, reports. robert wilson. sheila gregory. geoffrey packham. elsie devine. arthur cunningham. gladys richards. some went into gosport war memorial hospital to recover after falls. others had bed sores or broken bones. none came out alive. gillian mckenzie has been fighting for justice for her mother gladys richards for 20 years. she says the 91—year—old was doing well when sent to gosport to recover from a hip operation. but on the day she was admitted, her medical notes said nurses could confirm her death. after another fall, gladys richards was put on diamorphine. it's used to relieve severe pain, for example after a car crash or in end of life care.

gladys died four days later. her daughter went to the police. when i had contacted the police i said i wanted an appointment with somebody from cid with an allegation of unlawful killing, i had been told "there, there, my dear, you're upset". within four years, police were investigating 92 deaths. no proceedings were brought. there have also been inquests into 11 of those deaths and a general medical council hearing into one doctor. jane barton was a gp who worked part—time at the hospital. she signed 833 death certificates over 12 years and was found guilty of serious professional misconduct. she wasn't struck off but chose to retire. this latest investigation has taken four years and cost £13 million. gillian mckenzie and other families say they hope it will be highly critical and take them a step closer to criminal charges being brought. catherine burns, bbc news.

more on that later in the programme. joanna is in the bbc newsroom with a summary of the rest of the day's news. the row over how much of a say mps should get in the brexit process returns to the house of commons later. on monday, the house of lords again defeated the government over giving mps a "meaningful vote" on the outcome of negotiations between the uk and the eu. mps now have to decide whether they agree with the lords or with the government. a small group of rebel conservative mps are threatening to vote against the government if it doesn't make further concessions, meaning numbers in the commons are expected to be tight. canada is set to legalise the recreational use of cannabis after senators voted for a government—sponsored bill. when it receives royal assent, canada will become the first major industrialised country to legalise the drug. canadians will be able to buy and consume the drug legally as early as this september. business leaders in the united states havejoined the widespread criticism

of the practice of separating children from their parents if they enter the united states illegally from mexico. president trump, who's been defending the hardline policy, has been been talking to congressional leaders amid growing public anger, as our north america correspondent david willis reports. amid growing concern from members of his own party, the president came to capitol hill to talk about the crisis on the southern border. the system has been broken for many years, the immigration system. it's been a really bad, bad system, probably the worst anywhere in the world. we are trying to fix it. having met with republicans, he was heckled by democrats. quit separating the kids, separating the children, mr president! don't you have kids?! still though, no word of an imminent solution. these are laws that have been broken for many years, decades. thank you.

pressure to reform america's immigration system is being driven by images such as these, children kept in cages after being separated from their parents. under a new zero—tolerance policy, anyone caught crossing the border illegally is now being arrested. 2,000 sons and daughters have been separated from their parents in little over a month. mr trump insists the solution lies with congress. let the children go! but as protests sprout up around the country and in the face of growing international condemnation, one conservative talk show host has likened the situation to a crisis which threatened to derail the previous republican administration, warning that this could be "trump's katrina". david willis, bbc news, los angeles. the united states has pulled out of the un human rights council, accusing the organisation

of being hypocritical and biased against israel. the us envoy to the united nations, nikki haley, said the council was a "cesspool of political bias", whose members targeted countries with positive human rights records to distract from their own abuses. she said calls for reform in the council had been ignored. this step is not a retreat from human rights commitments. on the contrary, we take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self—serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights. the head of gchq has said the surveillance agency has played a critical role in disrupting terrorist plots in at least four other european countries in the last year. however, jeremy fleming said it was important the uk and the eu continued to co—operate on security issues after brexit. the government is seeking a bespoke deal on security co—operation. five people have been injured after a small explosion at a london tube station, thought to have been caused

by an electrical fault. officers were called to reports of people running at southgate station just after 7 o'clock yesterday evening. a man at the scene described people being trampled. two people were taken to hospital and three others were treated at the scene for minor injuries. nursery bosses in england say they face financial loss and even closure because of free childcare places offered by the government — that's according to a survey by an industry body. the national day nurseries association says the government does not pay them enough for the 30 hours of childcare which has been offered to working parents of three and four—year—olds since september, and the scheme creates costly administration. but the minister for children and families says the system is working for most nurseries. almost 300,000 - 294,000 to be specific — children have actually got a place and are benefiting from 30 hours of free childcare for three and four—year—olds. their parents, if they take the full provision, are saving about £5,000 per year.

health officials have told hospitals across england to introduce a new system to identify the most severely ill patients. the national early warning score flags up if a patient is acutely unwell — particularly those who have sepsis. more than 40,000 people die of blood poisoning in the uk each year. consumers in rural areas of the uk are far less likely to use their smartphones for banking than their urban counterparts, according to a large—scale consumer survey. the report from the financial conduct authority says the take—up of mobile banking in rural areas is nearly half that in urban areas. the findings come in the wake of bank branch closures, particularly in rural locations. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. more at 9.30. not long after we came off air yesterday the home secretary announced a review

into the medicinal use of cannabis — he also made it clear it was not a first step to legalisation of the drug for recreational sue. using cannabis to get high will continue to be illegal under this government. we had a such a huge response from you on this issue yesterday, and we wanted to give you a further opportunity to join the national conversation on this today with people we've gathered here in the studio — patients, politicians and experts. so wherever you are in the uk — do get in touch with us and we will add you to our debate. we can talk to you on skype or face time, tweet, text and e—mail. do you use cannabis for medical reasons, or recreational reasons? do you worry about breaking the law? have you got first—hand experience of the harm it can do? what concerns do you have about the laws being relaxed? lee says, "my mum has suffered from chronic arthritis for 67 years. we

bought her medicinal cannabis and her life has changed". so many of those. this text says, "i have been smoking cannabis along with over a dozen of my friends for well over 20 yea rs. dozen of my friends for well over 20 years. none of us have issues with this. used for medical purposes to relax and reduce muscle spasms". get in touch through the morning using the hashtag victoria live. you can send us an e—mail. if you text, we will have to charge you. let's get some sport with hugh woozencroft. andy murray's back, but we're not sure for how long just yet? good morning. great to see andy murray back on a tennis court and back out on grass for the first time since last year's wimbledon — but he says he's still not sure if he'll play at the grand slam this year. and even though he was beaten in his first match back after a year, i think there was a little bit of surprise atjust how well he did play. he went down in three sets to the world no 21, nick kyrgios,

who's eight years younger than him. and as murray continues to build himself back up from hip surgery injanuary, he's still not sure how fit he is. at this stage in my career, i'm trying to reduce the load i put through my body in training so i'm hoping the matches are what is going to get me fit to play those long matches. the positive thing at wimbledon is you have a day off in between matches but also, you know, if today's match was five sets, that could have been another hour and a half, four hours, for a half hours and whether my body is ready for thatjust now, i'm not sure. murray went on to say he may well play in eastbourne next week as he looks to build some more fitness. i'm sure everyone is hoping he does make it to wimbledon with some form. a big win for england's cricketers

but not to everybody‘s taste? no, there is a debate this morning over one—day cricket and whether it favours the batsmen too much. england test bowlerjames anderson thinks big—hitting batsman are becoming "like a blur" to watch. his words came after the one—day side wrapped up a series win over australia at trent bridge, setting a new international record by scoring a huge 481—6. in all, there were a massive 21 sixes hit by england as they went past the previous record of 41m they made against pakistan in 2016. alex hales and jonny bairstow made centuries. england taking an unassailable 3—0 lead in the best of five series, with two to play. captain eoin morgan said it wasjust about "the perfect day". but clearly not everybody liked the man of the win. in the world cup, mo salah started for egypt and they are on the way out. yes, they

are they are on the way out. yes, they a re close they are on the way out. yes, they are close to being eliminated. the egyptian king mohamed salah finally got to see some action at the world cup, having missed their first match as he recovered from the shoulder injury he suffered in liverpool's champions league final defeat last month. although he would have felt such pride to be out there, it was another defeat as hosts russia ran into a 3—0 lead. that was before some small consolation as salah became the first egyptian to score at a world cup for 28 years but it wasn't enough to stop the hosts making it back—to—back wins. there was victory for senegal over poland too and afterwards their fans showed just how considerate we should maybe all be. they cleaned up after themselves following the final whistle, and clearly helping to install themselves for many as the fans of the world cup. more importantly, who will be the team of the tournament? england have had a bit of a recovery session in the pool with a spot of unicorn racing. jesse lingard clearly enjoying it. these photos

are from his social media. in fact, england will have a day off today before preparations begin for their second match against panama on sunday. and i wonder what's more likely, seeing a unicorn or england winning the world cup? i think the bookmakers will be offering similar odds!|j i think the bookmakers will be offering similar odds! i think you're right. more sport later. good morning, it is 16 minutes past nine. the question of the moment. should cannabis be legalised? despite the drug being illegal here, the uk is the biggest exporter of legal cannabis in the world. so should itjust be available to buy in the shops? what would the risks be in doing that? or should we be restricting its use just to medicines? we had such a huge response from you when we reported on the latest developments yesterday we wanted to explore this further. for the next hour we'll be hearing from people on all sides of the debate — people who use cannabis recreationally, or to relieve pain, politicians, experts, those that think it must remain illegal, and you. wherever you are in the uk,

dojoin us — send us an email, whatsapp message on fb and if you use cannabis either medicinally or recreationally — you can talk to us live via skype or facetime. yesterday the government announced a review into the use of medicinal cannabis. it comes after a long struggle by parents of epileptic children to gain access to cannabis oil that helps prevent their seizures. before we debate whether those parents have made a change in the law almost inevitable, here is a reminder of how we got here. this is charlotte caldwell. these children are dying. these children are dying in our country and we now have to stand up here in the uk and say enough is enough. she says her epileptic son billy requires medicinal cannabis oil to stop his seizures, but it hasn't been legalised in the uk for this purpose. medicinal cannabis is an amazing alternative to try on these

kids. notjust billy, notjust one child, but an absolutely all of these children that are suffering this brutal condition every day. the case hit the headlines, igniting debate around medicinal cannabis, as did that of hannah deacon, whose six—year—old son alfie also has seizures. i'm just a mother who is tired of seeing my son suffer and i've found something that helps him and i want everyone to get together and make this happen for him. it's his human right to be well. both have now been allowed to receive cannabis—based drugs. but such cases have also sparked a government review of how medicinal cannabis could be used by the health system. the position that we find ourselves in currently is not satisfactory. it is not satisfactory for the parents. to the doctors and it is not satisfactory for me. currently, low—level cannabis oils are available to buy in the uk and some cannabis—based products are licensed for doctors to prescribe.

one can be used to treat spasms in people with multiple sclerosis. another can be given to cancer patients to help relieve nausea during chemotherapy. and doctors can in theory prescribe medicinal cannabis for other non—licensed reasons, but do so at their own risk. some mps and campaigners now want its use expanded. we are hopelessly out of date. our laws are based on the 1971 misuse of drugs act which is based on the 1960 un convention which said there is no medicinal benefit cannabis whatsoever. we need to get to a place where it's going to be pretty straightforward to have research into this area and then get medicines that can be properly applied for a whole variety of conditions. all eyes are now the newly announced government review into medicinal cannabis and whether this will lead to change. we're going to talk first about the pros and cons of legalising cannabis for medicinal reasons — and a bit later, we'll talk about the pros and cons of legalising cannabis

for recreational reasons. wherever you are in the uk — you canjoin us — we can talk to you on skype — just send us an email, message is on facebook, whatsapp or twitter. this is great, the leader of the campaign to legalise cannabis. greg, good morning, you've been smoking cannabis since he was 17 and now you're 30. but the last few years you've used it for medicinal purposes because you have been diagnosed with crohn's disease. you have broken uk law to use cannabis to have your condition, have you feel about that? and had no other choice. i was given behind to and five years left to live —— between two and five years to live, for me the chemotherapy that they we re for me the chemotherapy that they were offering me was not acceptable so were offering me was not acceptable soi were offering me was not acceptable so i went to the states and accessed cannabis ad there. i was a medical

marijuana migrant, that's the term they used because i could not get they used because i could not get the pharmaceuticals here, the options were not available. so i accessed home—grown, dispensary oil in the usa and within six months i had a clean bill of health. i came back to the uk and that's started the uk cannabis social clubs. —— that most out of them. have you used it in this country? every single day. i can go into remission if i use cannabis daily. if i don't have access to it i have a flare up and i'm in hospital. they don't understand why i keep having those flare—ups. when i tell them it's the medication i take a access it to myself because i don't take their medication, it isn't something they can offer me so i don't feel they can offer me so i don't feel they can give me the help i need is a crohn's patient. officially you could be arrested and fined, you could be arrested and fined, you could even be jailed for buying and using it, even for the purposes you

use it for. it is not likely to happen but theoretically it could happen. what do you think about that? i think it's quite sickening for a vulnerable person, the first time in 20101 went to buy cannabis after leaving hospital and was put into co nta ct after leaving hospital and was put into contact with someone i did not know because that's the situation and patients are in, they have to go and patients are in, they have to go and find it wherever they can. so i got passed on to someone else i didn't know and i had to trust them. i was on all sorts of pharmaceuticals at the time. they just gave me a bag of things to take. i wasn't in a great state, and i got mugged, i was taken into a forest, had my money taken and was left out there. i'd just left hospital and was told i had between two and five years to live. i went to my mp, henry smith in crawley and asked him to support me. he's a conservative but his response was,

my parents use it in california and they have access to it over there. i asked would he stand up for me and parliament in 2010 and he said sorry no it's not important enough to our constituents. your party has been in power for constituents. your party has been in powerfor eight years, constituents. your party has been in power for eight years, what is taking you so long? i think the debate is building and the national mood is changing. i think that we need to separate the medical from the recreational. personally! need to separate the medical from the recreational. personally i think the recreational. personally i think the medical case has been there for several years. when i was minister i tried to open a sub and get scanners pot cannabis medicines regulated but the home office wouldn't touch it. i'm dilated sajid javid has done that. you have failed and the home secretary has failed and norman lamb, you were a minister in the coalition and you also failed. we

couldn't get anywhere with the conservatives. there was total resista nce conservatives. there was total resistance from theresa may. we commissioned a study in the treasury to see what tax revenues raise. commissioned a study in the treasury to see what tax revenues raisem was over £1 million. the commissioned a study from our ministered to find out if there was any link internationally between having tough drugs laws and reducing the use of drugs. it doesn't work at all internationally. the home office commissioned a study that the tories would not look at the evidence. but as the shocking thing.|j would not look at the evidence. but as the shocking thing. i think someone as the shocking thing. i think someone would agree with this because we were both health ministers, it's the civil service, they simply would not countenance it. don't blame the civil service!,! it's embarrassing! have accepted responsibility but there's also a whitehall responsibility which is one delighted that the home secretary now has broken this fall and said, we acknowledge that the medical benefits of cannabis. personally i think we should quickly license and quickly make sure the

patients that were heard about suffering from epilepsy and other conditions can access this. are you ashamed it's ta ken conditions can access this. are you ashamed it's taken so long? ashamed isa ashamed it's taken so long? ashamed is a big word. i think the political classes have been asleep and slow. it's notjust party politics. i welcome the fact that sajid has open this up and said we'll have a wider debate and to medical cannabis now. he hasn't said that. presumably that is what people like greg want. why not just have review. is what people like greg want. why notjust have review. read the language, he's talking days and weeks and not months. he was fairly clear. we don't all have time to wait. i have epileptic children contacting me, people trying to get drugs for the relatives who have cancer, we need some kind of

situation where they are decriminalised. you are completely right. this is perfectly doable, victoria. i used to be the minister for this. take the regulation, was to howth and say patients with epilepsy have permission right now under license to purchase, quickly put in place a registration scheme so put in place a registration scheme so you can buy clean product and then terrible stories like the one you shared what happened. i've got a constituent, cannabis is the only thing that soothes his pain after an operation. his home was raided. he has held off going to the police. he's now been told to me that if he doesn't attend voluntarily he will be arrested... was he growing it? he bought it on the web. he was faced with this dilemma, how to get hold of it. now he faces getting a criminal record which means he can't

visit his son in australia or get hold of the one thing that really leaves his pain. it's cruel and inhuman. it is harassment of disabled people. sue pryce.|j inhuman. it is harassment of disabled people. sue pryce. i can't help but feel present company excepted that politicians are spineless when it comes to drug laws. many politicians like william hague yesterday sort of come out when they have left office. but when they are in office they all do this sort of, more liberal approach, they kind of hold the home office line or v, tough on drugs... as leader of the conservative party, i be with you in the second, joseph, next to you, dr marta di forti who has looked into the impact of cannabis on people's mental health. we've talked a bit about the physical side

of things. what about the mental health side of things? it depends if you want me to come and on the medical use and mental health because in relation to medical health we had a few studies and the first serious placebo double blind trial which will also look at the possibility of one cannabis constituent using this recreationally and developing psychosis. even within mental health cannabis could be exploited as a medication. i think my concern as a doctor, i'm not sure how many medics on this panel but when we talk about medicinal cannabis cannabis contains over 100 ingredients. which composition of ingredients are we talking about when we think towards moving towards people like me writing a prescription recommending daily amounts depending on the condition? my concern is, if we want

to move to medical cannabis rather than to move to medical cannabis rather tha n follow to move to medical cannabis rather than follow emotions, we need to know how to handle this properly. because lots of people have been soft medicating and some get it right and some don't. unfortunately ido right and some don't. unfortunately i do see an mental health the casualty of the one that got the wrong amounts started at the wrong age. so as norman lamb says these are casualties of the existing position. tell us what impact you have on those people. position. tell us what impact you have on those peoplelj position. tell us what impact you have on those people. i had to say, 16—year—old is largely don't self medicate for a medical condition, the use and recreationally. as a consequence of the type of cannabis available, the police will be able to back me up in london which is family, they develop mental health problems, the ones i see develop psychosis so they come to mental health services with paranoia.

that must worry you? it does but it's important to consider that across the western world... just let me speak. but the point about this is that if you are in the early stages of psychosis, you get negative symptoms and feel great alienating people in that situation often alienating people in that situation ofte n ta ke alienating people in that situation often take cannabis and later the symptoms come out and then be assumption is that this is because of the cannabis. you can get psychotic episodes while you are using very high at... with respect, baroness meacher, our medic is disagreeing with you vigorously.|j disagreeing with you vigorously.” have to disagree on two points, there is a myth that mental health... let's talk about psychosis, psychotic disorder rates

have not increased and the epidemiology of psychosis is not up—to—date and there's recent evidence, there was a paper published in the journal of psychiatrists which has shown rates psychotic disorder in places like amsterdam, paris and london and the london rates for instant i definitely increased from the previous study which was published in the late 90s and from the may world health organisation study which was published ten years earlier, the issue of mental health rate is not true but it is true that it... and quickly, this is the usual chicken and the egg. by all means, there is probably a proportion of people who are experiencing mental health symptoms of a variety, not just negative symptoms, who probably use cannabis and lots of other recreational drugs to self medicate but there's a huge body of... let baroness meacher respond. as we know, there are two key ingredients of cannabis, cbd is an anti—psychotic and if you use it in anti—psychotic and if you use it in

a medicinal way, you would have a very careful balance between thc and cbd, cbd balances and controls thc and then you get all the benefits of cannabis, as we know, at least1 million people could benefit from this, people like yourself, they could stay out of hospital and we would save not just could stay out of hospital and we would save notjust £1 billion but several billion to the nhs if people with crohn's disease, chronic pain, severe pain, all of these horrible illnesses and epilepsy... but the critical question is. gregg will respond and then mr freeman. you have named three, big, overcrowded cities but mental health in overcrowded cities is quite high as it is and i think as a result of that, we should look at the societal factors that are causing it. i don't think cannabis is the only one. in cities like barcelona where there are 1000 cannabis social clubs now and they have the same could be thought we are putting out there where you have tested cannabis

product, you in them, the members are over18, like product, you in them, the members are over 18, like when you have those measures in place, the incidence of psychosis will probably reduce massively. do you agree? the keyword is probably and it's important to hear from the medic and a case that we are scientific about that, that we get the data, that is why i want a quick medical scheme because we get patients properly registered and we can collect the data and it is helpful to be reminded that there is some horrible street cannabis out there and people peddling horrible stuff that has read damaging effects on young people. as long as we regulate this asa people. as long as we regulate this as a medicine, we collect the data, we see what works and get the evidence, —— i get the evidence, i think we will change the stigma, reduce the idea that cannabis is evil and get it properly licensed andl evil and get it properly licensed and i think that will open up a recreational debate. the truth is, we already lead the world in pharmaceutical cannabis, we have spent billions trying to develop pharmaceutical products, and my argument is there is something in the middle before pharmaceuticals,

cannabis oil that is proven to help people with ms and brain cancer, those i did need to be regulated quickly and licensed. yes. the critical question for me is this, victoria, given this is a potentially dangerous product in its strongest and most potent strand, do we leave that in the hands of criminals? this provides no safety and security for my children. i'm a father and i am naturally quite hostile to drugs, certainly the over use of drugs. i want them protected but if you what —— your only source of supply is criminals on the street or the dark web, you have no idea what you are buying and criminals have no interest in your welfare. much better to regulate so you can control the potency. let much better to regulate so you can controlthe potency. let me read some messages from people watching around the country. ian from newcastle said "cannabis needs to be legalised for medical use as soon as is. alcohol has a far more devastating effect, as anyone working in a&e will concern —— will

confirm. as a recreational cannabis, there is anecdotal evidence it may call psychosis but the fact remains thousands are being treated every day for such disorders who have never smoked or taken cannabis. i would love to talk to you about my 25—year—old son who has intractable epilepsy. he is nonverbal, autistic and has many other health problems. he is in desperate need of cbd oil as he has already been on life support due to his seizures and has been hospitalised many times. next time, he could die without this medication. i live in fear every day of the phone cord telling me he's going to hospital. please help these children and young adults —— the phone call. that is from a desperate mum. this one says, "an ex—military, in severe pain, have used tramadol and every other drug to no effect and every other drug to no effect and have now used cbd for the past nine months and will continue to do so regardless of the law". it is fairto so regardless of the law". it is fair to say you can use cbd cannabis oil without breaking the law. it is

the thc component if it is about 0.2% ina the thc component if it is about 0.2% in a particular amount that causes problems. on the medical case for thc, we already licensed opiates so heroin is not a good product, very few people think we should have recreational heroine but we use opiates in medicine and indeed, in cancer therapy and pain relief. we already have crossed this line of taking an evil substance, a highly addictive street heroin and licensing it for medical use and it works. i think the case here is article —— utterly compelling to be the same. we need to be evidence led in terms of recreational use. we will talk about the pros and cons of recreational use in a moment. yes? interstates in the us where they have legalised cannabis for medical use, the death rates from opioids are produced by something like 67%. it is absolutely ridiculous that people are left on these very dangerous, very addictive opioids,

with terrible side—effects, when they could be on cannabis, much safer, less addictive, fewer side—effects. safer, less addictive, fewer side-effects. i'm going to bring in joe because i read the e—mail and she wants to talk to us about her son. whereabouts in the country are you? at the moment i'm in northumberland but i live in west sussex. tellers about your son and his condition. he's got lennox castro saintjerome, when he was a baby, he had about 200 seizures a day, he has had brain surgery twice. he's been on life support once. i never want to experience that again. it was horrendous. what do you want for your son? i would like to be able to access cbd oil to see if it helps him to improve his quality of life and we don't have these visits where we have to watch my son suffered so much. —— hospital visits. have you considered breaking the law in order to get this? no,

not at the moment because i'm quite law—abiding so i would be frightened to do that but if i ever have too experienced anything like that again, i wouldn't think twice about it. you have to see it. last time he went in, i thought he was going to die. i've done his funeral plan. because you just can't believe a body can go through such trauma and come out the other end. thank you so much. response from people in the studio? i was going to say, going back to the point, cbd itself is not illegal so by all means, we should support parents who are in the same position to access it for their children. i'm surprised neurologists are not taking part in the debate more because if there were a paediatric neurologist, i would be going in search of it myself. —— if i were going in search of it myself. —— if iwere a going in search of it myself. —— if i were a paediatric neurologist. we're talking about cbd being

available, and thc and certain circumstances, and it is a different to talk about medicinal cannabis, cannabis is a dirty and wonderful plant and we need to know and all i wa nt plant and we need to know and all i want is information and i think what concerns me want is information and i think what concerns me is who is pushing for the legalisation, keeps on saying there's no harm associated with cannabis. there is no such... nobody says that. there's no such thing as a medicine without side—effects. we need to be aware of side effects as well as the medicinal properties. no one is saying there is no harm but it is much less harmful than the kind of drugs that are prescribed every day by our doctors. alfie potter my doctors here were prescribing a raft of adult medications, steroids and the rest, which were going to destroy his internal organs, causing psychosis and lead to an early death. instead, he can take cannabis with a little bit of thc, which will be much, much less dangerous, i'm not saying, as

you say, no drug is completely risk—free but it is much less dangerous. we already do this with other drugs, we acknowledge if someone has terminal cancer, the threshold for drug safety is lower. i totally agree. it's important we have the evidence and the data. bread, briefly. legal cbd products, there are so many available on the market now and no one really knows the right one to take for the patient. these are children. they are not, like, bucks made in gmp facilities that pharmaceutical medications are made in. they are made with hempseed oil and cbd and they are blended up. while they might have the percentage on it, they don't know what is the most effective dose for them. the doctors need to work with those patients. thank you so much for getting in touch with us, we appreciate it. join the debate on e—mail and we can talk to you on skype and face time. ian has just arrived. talk to you on skype and face time. ian hasjust arrived. good morning. thank you so much. take a seat. good

to see you. i don't want to ask about your journey but to see you. i don't want to ask about yourjourney but i suspect it was pretty awful but thank you so much for getting here. ian has parkinson's and you have also broken uk drugs laws by using cannabis to help your parkinson's. how do you feel about that? i feel that it should be available, basically. i shouldn't be in the position to have to break the law to get something thatis to break the law to get something that is effective and works for me. do you worry about saying on national tv that you have broken the law? yeah. i'm a law-abiding citizen. that is why the law needs to change so we don't criminalise people like ian. you suffering from a condition and he needs to be able to get the medicine you need. can you explain to the audience why you turned to cannabis to help the parkinson's? my main symptom is a severe tremor, and it makes me fall over. i've tried all the existing

parkinson's medication is that only succeeded in making me feel ill and did not affect the tremor. i was researching natural tremor control on the internet and i found insta nces on the internet and i found instances of people treating it with cannabis. i know someone who uses it recreationally and i asked them to get me some to try and it was like night and day. what effect did it have? completely calmed the tremor within ten minutes. is this oil? this will the herb itself. how do you take it? rhodes at that point i was making it but these days i vaporise. —— was making it but these days i vaporise. -- at that point i was smoking it but these days i vaporise. we will talk about the recreational side of things and the arguments for and against, having discussed the medicinal arguments use. the home secretary sajid javid insists that such a move is off the table, but is the debate inevitably moving in favour of legalisation, or not?

before we talk about that with you around the country and with our guests in the studio, have a look at this, the arguments for and against. cannabis is the most widely used illegal drug in britain. over 6% of 16 to 59—year—olds reported using it in 2017, according to home office statistics. it's a class b drug, meaning it's illegal to supply or possess. anyone found with it could face a warning, fine or imprisonment. but for years, campaigners have called for it to be legalised saying it's no more harmful than alcohol or tobacco. we believe that the information is outdated, their reports and research is very outdated. if you take a look at spain, portugal, canada, america, they're all coming through with progressive, forward—thinking policies but with more of a positive impact and utilising cannabis culture for the positive it can do for the local community, for the industry, for medical patients, for recreational users thatjust want to have a social experience but don't want to be criminalised for it.

unexpectedly, the former conservative leader, william hague, is now also urging theresa may to legalise its recreational use. he called the uk's drug policy utterly out of date, saying the government was deluded to think cannabis could be driven off the streets. other politicians and campaigners agree. i'm the mother of two sons and i would far rather we were in a situation whereby if they were getting hold of cannabis, you would have a better chance of knowing it was likely to be safer than going, as we are today, with a kind of free for all. where instead of this being regulated by the government, it's basically being regulated by gangs. the government has now announced a review specifically into the use of medicinal cannabis, but it says there are no plans to either decriminalise the drug, in which possessing small amounts will no longer lead to a criminal record orjail sentence, or legalise it entirely. this step is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use. those who support existing laws point to the high risk

of schizophrenia and other mental health conditions linked to cannabis and fear for some people, legalising it would act as a gateway to harder drugs. it is probably worth re—emphasising that growing, selling and possessing cannabis and all its forms is illegal and is punishable by it law the home office reminds us. joseph, good morning. thank you for your patience. your son has smoked cannabis since he was 1a, he is now nearly 30. what effect has it had on him? we moved to a more affluent area hoping that would help things, and we found out that all the kids around there all smoked cannabis. you say it is a middle—class thing then? no, it wasjust more freely available there than we relived and the parents of those children seemed

to smoke it themselves, a lot of them. at that age she was a good lad. i would like to say firstly that as well as the medical side of things is concerned it's pretty obvious that it should be used and politicians will probably take their time because that is what they do. but the influence on your son? time because that is what they do. but the influence on your 50mm has totally changed him. he has a mental illness. a disorder. which means he has massive mood swings. he loses his temper very easily. we've had a lot of different episodes with different things and it has gradually got worse and worse. has the cannabis exacerbated it? totally. doctors have looked at him. we had a situation where we got arrested so that he could be assessed. that's a different issue. the police said to do this, just get

assessed. the assessors came along after he spent all day in jail, he spoke to them quite normally and said, that's fine. your son has actually attacked you want under the influence of cannabis. yes, again the ironic thing is that the only way he can function is to take cannabis. it's the only thing that now keeps him calm, grows no talking to the doctors, they are saying that the reason his condition is so bad is the cannabis. that the cannabis is the cannabis. that the cannabis is now the only thing, he's no totally addicted, he can't go a day without. .. he cannot totally addicted, he can't go a day without... he cannot function. simon stevens without... he cannot function. simon steve ns hea d without... he cannot function. simon stevens head of the nhs in england reminded us yesterday that 10% of people who use cannabis will become addicted. he says legalising it would risk making children believe it is safe. paul attenborough, 30

yea rs it is safe. paul attenborough, 30 years as it is safe. paul attenborough, 30 yea rs as a it is safe. paul attenborough, 30 years as a police officer, also worked with the drugs squad. do you agree with the head of the nhs that if you fully legalise cannabis then you risk making children believe it is safe? yes. as a covert police officer and sat with people cannabis, not realising a police officer. i have seen the effect it has on certain individuals, although not all. so if there's a risk to that and i believe that recreational use is a bad thing for the uk. do you think the drug laws in this country needs some of reform? as you will know a number of police forces effectively turn a blind eye when it comes to individuals possessing cannabis. we tried it in 2004, it was declassified to a class c drug. not declassified, downgraded. class cdrug. not declassified, downgraded. class c drug. police officers were in a

quandary. they didn't know what to do in relation to warning people on streets, how much people were allowed to have, so the education related to educating the police was very poor. what is the point of having a class c drug in place of the police are not enforcing the law? do we know they are not enforcing it? they have lowered priorities, but are they not enforcing it? ideal with cases every day is a drug expert, and i give evidence to courts and i see cases of cannabis coming in in the hundreds. we know it's far less dangerous than alcohol, according to scientists alcohol is the most dangerous drug of all. so why, when governments are trying to stop people smoking and binge drinking would we add to this by allowing

cannabis to be used to recreational use? we go way over the top with a drug that is less dangerous than alcohol. the way to protect people who use cannabis is to regulate it. give us your vision as to how britain would work of cannabis was legalised, who would manufacture it, would be sold in newsagents or supermarkets? go down the route that canada has legislated forjust yesterday. a regulated system with growers who would have to be registered and licensed. sellers would have to be licensed so if they we re would have to be licensed so if they were not fit and proper persons they wouldn't get a license or they would lose it. and you would control the potency, this vital mix between the thc and the cbd. and if you get that right through regulation you can limit the risk of anything going wrong. what do you think of that dr

marta di forti? potentially a good idea. two criticisms. one the ideal concentration of thc and cbd. we are beginning to understand what that might be but we don't know... potentially it's a good idea to legalise and her recreational use? no potentially a good idea to look ata no potentially a good idea to look at a type of cannabis with a different proportion... city of controlled the compounds, where and how was it sold? to registered outlets on the high street. i was in victoria in british columbia in canada a few years ago. as a smart shop where it's all set out neatly. this was before the legalisation but the police were already accepting the police were already accepting the reality of it. you take it off the reality of it. you take it off the streets. that's the vital thing. if you are going to tax and it would attract a black market... but at least you are raising tax revenues

of over £1 billion which would be useful for the of over £1 billion which would be usefulfor the nhs. of over £1 billion which would be useful for the nhs. the alcohol parallel is important because as norman says you put it in the same place as alcohol, a terrible problem but you've decriminalised it and the government is getting revenue from it. although still a massive problem. what about children growing up problem. what about children growing up thinking it is safe because it's legalised? at the moment cannabis is dangerous because you have no idea what you are buying. prohibition... but and is specifically, people growing up saying that cannabis is safe because it's illegal. you would educate people in schools about the potential risks of any drug, whether legal or illegal. going to bring in janet ina legal or illegal. going to bring in janet in a moment, she is 70 and has spoked cannabis recreationally since the 20s but before that ijust want to read these comments from viewers around the country. they're with me!

i was never given alcohol education at school, how to use alcohol safely. we see it binge drinking. when i was 16 and we left school everybody went out and got carried and we were all ill for a week. you wa nt and we were all ill for a week. you want another thing to educate kids about? we should have a more open discussion. i don't think we speak about alcohol safety. if people are using the drug, which they are, we should tell them honestly. two people i want to talk to, janet, being patient on the phone, and lord munson a conservative peer will tell us munson a conservative peer will tell us about his son rupert. got a correct something? i'm not a conservative. in surrey, tell us about rupert, if you would. that is my second son. he said he smoked cannabis and i was not bothered. he

then became strange. he walked around the garden talking to imaginary people. that was the pleasant side of things, that was 0k. pleasant side of things, that was ok. but then the demons came. his mother took him to the doctors and they said that he had psychosis, and they said that he had psychosis, and they thought it stemmed from his cannabis habit which was quite a surprise to me. the upshot was it that he committed suicide in a psychotic fit in january, that he committed suicide in a psychotic fit injanuary, this that he committed suicide in a psychotic fit in january, this was four months after he had stopped smoking cannabis. and then i was told by doctors afterwards that what he had smoked was skunk. i said is not the same as cannabis? they said it was completely different, the cannabis that may have been around, with the greatest of respect, lord

monson when you were younger, i looked it up on the internet and was horrified to find it was ten times stronger. my big concern is that skunk is between three and five times more likely to send you psychotic than the low level cannabis. so my particular line is what you do to get skunk of the street. the way to get it of the street. the way to get it of the street is the way they got moonshine whisky, which has been peddled by gangsters in america, between 1920 and 1932, they got it off the street by ending prohibition and legalising lower level alcohol and then moonshine whisky with all its problems, just disappeared. understood. let me bring injanet.

do you mind me asking how old you are? turned 70 last week. how long have you been smoking cannabis for? since my 20s, really. i have used it basically throughout my life. there have been periods i haven't used it so much but certainly from 40 onwards i have used it. incidentally through that time, i worked nonstop, from the age of 25 after i had my children, right up until i retired not very long ago. so i held down a professionaljob the years and yea rs, professionaljob the years and years, and cannabis was my drug of choice to relax and unwind. and it still is. so, for almost 50 years

you have been using it. do you think, in your lifetime you will see it for the legalised in your lifetime? i would definitely think so. i don't think there is any way around it. i feel terribly so. i don't think there is any way around it. ifeel terribly sorry so. i don't think there is any way around it. i feel terribly sorry for the gentleman who spoke before me and his mentioning of the skunk. i'm well aware of the presence of this awful skunk on the street. and i com pletely awful skunk on the street. and i completely agree with him that if it was properly regulated you could com pletely was properly regulated you could completely get rid of that. people weren't getting psychosis from cannabis in the 19605 and the 19705. this is a human manufactured thing. the natural cannabis is very safe. it is not toxic. that helped people with different things like pain, nausea induced from chemotherapy and so on. janet, joseph and martin want

to talk to you. go ahead, joseph, although she can't see you, she's on the phone. hi janet. although she can't see you, she's on the phone. hijanet. i understand that there are a great many people that there are a great many people that smoke cannabis and it has absolutely no effect on them at all. there were two reasons that prompted me to contact victoria and one was the case of my son. there are thousands of other kids in his situation. i don't know whether legalising it or not will make a difference but it is a drug and so worrying. different from those most potent strains. i agree, my point was, i contacted victoria after the show had finished. i watched the show had finished. i watched the show and then william hague came on tv and his recent legalising cannabis was that because the police can't enforce it. after i'd stopped laughing, i decided to contact victoria. if that's his way of

thinking, then why don't we legalise cocaine? why don't we legalise anything that the police cannot actually... let sue respond. and is actually... let sue respond. and is a different thing. you don't legalised theft because there is a clear victim. but with drugs and i5 a transactional crime, both the seller and the user wants to commit the crime. it is still a crime in this country. my opinion was that he was sailing, let's give it up because the police have given up. if they hadn't slashed the police funds perhaps they could have done things better! no, we cannot possibly police the5e better! no, we cannot possibly police these drugs. we know we can't by looking at the illegal use. the use of extreme drugs is associated with extreme violence especially in poor communities, because the only way you can control your market is through threats and violence to others who try to get onto your

market and this upsurge in violence in london at the moment, there is a close link with the illegal drugs trade. let's take this out of our communities and legislate properly. the truth is even if we regulated like alcohol we will still have a problem. the alcohol situation today, which is the model, is a disaster. we've got huge alcohol abuse. the source of that is, we ask ourselves why we have unhappy children and people looking for escape. the deep questions are societal. but if you regulated you ta ke societal. but if you regulated you take the wind out of the sails of the criminal gangs. you take the risk for... the criminal gangs. you take the risk for. .. i think he's almost there! i think is being persuaded!” welcome the debate but i don't think welcome the debate but i don't think we should rush in on the back of the medical argument to say let's have a cannabis is free for all. this might be black and white but let me try anyway. a show of hands for those

who support the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal purposes. that is everybody so i wonder if it i5a that is everybody so i wonder if it isafair that is everybody so i wonder if it is a fair reflection of the way things are. and those who supported legal legalisation of cannabis for recreational purposes? it's about half. let me read these messages. marie 5aid marie said my son began smoking cannabis from the age of 14 and 5piralled out of control quickly and again violent and abusive, especially towards me. he regularly hit me which resulted in more than one trip to a&e, it totally changed his personality and lead to major anger issues. cannabis then lead to heroin. cannabis i5 anger issues. cannabis then lead to heroin. cannabis is a very dangerous drug and should never be used for recreational purposes. rory said, "ivm recreational purposes. rory said, "i'm 37 and have been smoking cannabis for over 20 years. i have a good job and run my own company. i'm healthy and fit. i smoke and i've never had a bad experience from using it. this is a topic i feel extremely passionate about. the uk

recreational cannabis industry is worth over £1 billion per year but the government would rather the money goes to drug dealers and the black market. we need full licensing in this country now". they are two different runner5 come your first call had probably experienced gun. we don't know, it might be. but that i5 we don't know, it might be. but that is my point. when we are talking about skunk and cannabis, they are the same thing, i'm afraid. gw pharmaceuticals genetic library that they grow is skunk, it is bought from the breeder, skunk man sam, he is the creator of the skunk strain and that is what they use to make the drugs. one of those is cbd. yes but it is to strain from skunk genetics. you're not surely saying we should have recreational skunk? you are saying that? the same cannabis are useful medicine is the same cannabis people are using on the streets. it is the same cannabis thatis

the streets. it is the same cannabis that is being regulated in america and sold in dispensaries out there. the term skunk isjust a scare word. dizzy e—mail system "i know my 17—year—old son and many of his friends u5e cannabis rather than drinking alcohol and this seems common amongst young people. it interesting he is worried that if it i5 legalised and regulated, he will find it hard to get hold of wearers at the moment he says it is so easy . at the moment he says it is so easy". laughter that says it is all done that is what is happening in schools in america, it is harder for kids to get older cannabis because it takes 21—year—old age id. get older cannabis because it takes 21-year-old age id. justin trudeau has just led the same for canada. thank you all very much. we really appreciate you getting here and thank you for your patience. let's get the latest weather update — with simon king. good morning, quite a bit of cloud around at the moment, some mi5ty and murky conditions in coastal areas of 5outhern murky conditions in coastal areas of southern england and west wales. some 5un5hine out there as one of the weather watchers in

cambridge5hire sent in this morning from cambridge. sun5hine at times across the south—east before cloud moves in. sun5hine breaking through, the cloud acro55 moves in. sun5hine breaking through, the cloud across north wales, northern england, sunny spell5 for scotla nd northern england, sunny spell5 for scotland and northern ireland but elsewhere staying quite cloudy with rain fizzling way, briny afternoon except a few showers in the law. muddy and warm in the south—east, 25 or 26 muddy and warm in the south—east, 25 or26 and muddy and warm in the south—east, 25 or 26 and elsewhere, a bit fresher. the night some showers, mostly clearing. into thursday, probably a more comfortable night for sleeping and temperatures down into single figures across the north and lower at about 11 or 13 further south. a fresh appeal to the day through tomorrow but plenty of dry weather with lots of sunny spells as well. —— fresh feel. hello it's wednesday, it's 10 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. the government's announced a review into the medicinal use of cannabis, and says it won't legalise the drug for recreational use — but how long will the review take and are we criminalising vulnerable patients in the meantime? we are patients.

i have epileptics... you know, mothers with epileptic children contacting us. we have police officers, doctors and nurses who are growing cannabis for their parents who've got cancer. they ask us, what situation am my in growing my own? we need to have some kind of situation where they are decriminalised. completely right. so how far should we go — should we consider legalising cannabis for recreational use? this dad told us his son started smoking skunk at 14 and that it has ruined his life. the reason that his condition is so bad is the cannabis, but the cannabis now is the only thing that can... totally addicted, you know, he can't go a day without having... he can't function. yesterday the canadian parliament passed a law legalising the recreational use of marijuana. we'll look at how the rules here compare to the situation elsewhere. also, the families of patients who died at gosport hospital in the ‘805 and ‘905 hope a report published later could end

a decades—long wait for answers. justice for all the families will be if there are convictions in the criminal court, whether it's their particular case or not. this distressing image of a sobbing toddler being separated from her mum at the us border has been seen by millions of people around the world. the photographer behind it tells us he felt powerless to help and taking the image was the only thing he could do. when i photographed this mother standing there with her hands on the transport vehicle, spread out, as she was body searched by an official and her little girl standing under her, weeping and looking up. itwas a... i felt very helpless to do anything. good morning.

here'sjoanna in the bbc newsroom with a summary of today's news. an inquiry into hundreds of deaths at gosport war memorial hospital in hampshire will publish its findings this morning. a previous investigation found that over 12 years from 1988, patients, many of them elderly, were almost routinely given powerful painkilling drugs. it concluded that the drugs had "almost certainly" shortened the lives of some patients. despite three police investigations, no one has ever been charged with a criminal offence. the row over how much of a say mp5 should get in the brexit process returns to the house of commons later. on monday, the house of lords again defeated the government over giving mp5 a "meaningful vote" on the outcome of negotiations between the uk and the eu. mp5 now have to decide whether they agree with the lords or with the government. a small group of rebel conservative mp5 are threatening to vote against the government if it doesn't make further concessions, meaning numbers in the commons are expected to be tight. president trump and republicans

in the us congress have agreed that urgent legislation is needed to end the practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border with mexico and being kept in separate inprisonment facilities. critics have said mr trump could stop the practice by simply removing the zero—tolerance policy his administration introduced. the us homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen, who's defended the trump policy, was confronted by protesters as she dined at a mexican restaurant in washington. the united states has pulled out of the un human rights council, accusing the organisation of being hypocritical and biased against israel. the us envoy to the united nations, nikki haley, said the council was a "cesspool of political bias", whose members targeted countries with positive human rights records to distract from their own abuses. she said calls for reform in the council had been ignored. canada is set to legalise the recreational use of cannabis after senators voted for a government—sponsored bill.

when it receives royal assent, canada will become the first major industrialised country to legalise the drug. canadians will be able to buy and consume the drug legally as early as this september. the leaders of germany, france, italy, austria and several other eu countries are to hold a special meeting on sunday to try and reach agreement on migration. germany's angela merkel and france's president macron also discussed the issue in berlin yesterday. deep divisions among european governments on how to deal with illegal migrants were highlighted by the recent refusal of italy's populist government to accept migrants on board the rescue ship aquarius. germany's interior minister has also threatened to turn migrants back at the country's border. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. more at 10.30. a little later in the programme, we are going to return to our top story — the debate around cannabis use. the canadian senate voted last night to fully legalise the use and production of cannabis. we'll hear how other countries

including the us and ireland have changed their laws around use of the drug. do get in touch with us throughout the morning about that or any other stories we are covering — use the hashtag victoria live and if you text, you will be charged at the standard network rate. here's some sport now with hugh. good morning. andy murray says he's not sure if he'll play at wimbledon, that's despite making his comeback at queen's yesterday. he's been out for almost a year after having hip surgery, and he looked pretty good against the australian nick kyrgios. he couldn't keep it up though, and ended up losing in three sets. at this stage in my career, i'm trying to reduce the load i put through my body in training so i'm hoping the matches what is going to get me fit to play those long matches. the positive thing at

wimbledon is you have a day off in between matches but also, you know, if today's match was five sets, that would have been another hour and a half, four hours, four and a half hour match and whether my body is ready for that just now, i'm hour match and whether my body is ready for thatjust now, i'm not sure. england test bowlerjames anderson thinks one—day matches with lots of big hitting can become "like a blur" to watch. he was speaking after england hit a new world record score of 481 in their third one—dayer against australia at trent bridge. there were a massive 21 sixes hit by england, with centuries for alex hales and jonny bairstow in the process. england now have an unassailable 3—0 lead in the best of five series, with two to play. the egyptian king mohamed salah finally got to see some action at the world cup, but it looks like his time in russia will be short—lived. egypt were beaten 3—1 by the hosts, who will be the first team through to the last 16 if saudi arabia fail to beat uruguay in today's 4 o'clock kick—off. england have had a bit of a recovery

session in the pool later with a spot of unicorn racing. in fact, england will have a day off today before preparations begin in earnest for their second match against panama on sunday. that's all the sport for now. an inquiry that has scrutinised more than 800 deaths of elderly patients at a hospital in hampshire is due to report this morning. patient care at gosport war memorial hospital first came under the spotlight 20 years ago. inquests looking at 11 deaths there found that drugs the patients had been given may have contributed to their deaths. a report released in 2013 said that the way drugs were administered could have shortened patients' lives. a doctor at the hospital, jane barton, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct, and putting her patients at risk, by the regulator the general medical council.

she was allowed to continue to practice, but retired early. the police have investigated more than 90 deaths at the hospital, but no one has been charged in relation to the deaths. today's inquiry came after the then care minister norman lamb ordered an inquiry into hundreds of deaths at the hospital between 1988 and 2000. our reporter catherine burns has been following the story. how did this begin all those years ago? 20 years now, it started with one lady, gillian mckenzie, her mum gladys had been in hospital at gosport, she'd gone in after a hip operation at another hospital mostly for rehabilitation. it was while her family tried to find a new nursing home for her. they felt she was doing pretty well, walking with a zimmerframe doing pretty well, walking with a zimmer frame but she doing pretty well, walking with a zimmerframe but she never left hospital. she had anotherfall

zimmerframe but she never left hospital. she had another fall but interestingly, they showed me the notes from her first state, when she went in with the zimmer frame, doing 0k," went in with the zimmer frame, doing ok," please make comfortable, happy for nursing staff to confirm death". after that she had another fall and was put on diamorphine, a really strong painkiller, used for accidents, after surgery and in end of life care. they did not feel she was at the end of life. after that, gillian went to the police about her mother's death and this was the start of it all. other families in the years that followed also raised concerns, didn't they? no one was charged or arrested after the initial police investigation but there was some publicity and within four years, police were investigating 92 cases and that has been one of many investigations. there have been 11 inquests, various other investigations. the department of health published a report in 2013 which spoke about almost routine use of opiates before death and said the practice almost certainly shorten the lives of some patients. you mentioned the gmc hearing into jane

barton. as you said, she was found guilty of serious professional misconduct but chose to retire. she was not struck off. all this time, the families have felt they have had u na nswered the families have felt they have had unanswered question. gillian mckenzie is 84 now and she says the fight has taken her 20 years. how will today's independent report be different to previous investigations? it was set up by your guest norman lamb. it will look at the care given in gosport but also at the other deaths. the chairman is bishop james jones also at the other deaths. the chairman is bishopjamesjones who chaired the hillsborough disaster enquirer. it has taken four years and looked at evidence from all the releva nt and looked at evidence from all the relevant organisations, the police, and the gmc but we don't know if it will point any fingers or say if there is any criminal responsibility that we will find out in over one hour. chain barton has always said

she had the interests of the patients at heart. that's a statement, she says throughout her career she is always tried to do her best to patients and is bug of the pressures she was and at the time. thank you, cath. cath will report on this when this comes out. stephen lloyd, a liberal democrat mp has been working with a family whose relative died in gosport war memorial hospital. peter walsh is from the patient safety charity action against medical accidents, which has helped severalfamilies who pushed for an inquiry into how their relatives died at the hospital. and norman lamb has stayed on, thank you so much. you are the minister at the time who set this up. what do you think about how long relatives have had to wait to find out the truth, potentially, about what happened to their relatives?” truth, potentially, about what happened to their relatives? i think it's shocking. i met with the relatives when i was in opposition in 2009, this awful sense that they

we re in 2009, this awful sense that they were being ignored, that no one was listening to them and they could not find out what had happened. you have a mother who goes into hospitalfor rehabilitation and days later, she is dead. no explanation. and then you discover that she has been prescribed morphine on admission to hospital. that's a very serious issue. out of this there needs to be some automatic mechanism to refer patient concerns about wrongdoing for automatic consideration and critically that families should be involved in that process. ask you more about how that would work in the moment. stephen boyd. —— stephen lloyd, how did you first become involved in the case? gillian mckenzie was one of my constituents, at first i thought story was far—fetched but she gave me a load of papers and when i read them i

thought, this is very worrying. i contacted norman, who was an mp and isaidi contacted norman, who was an mp and i said i think we have a real issue. i sent i said i think we have a real issue. isent him i said i think we have a real issue. i sent him some of the papers. i took this is no macron some of the other relatives and we went to see norman in westminster. he took up the cudgel, he got elected in 2010 and has been continuing to fight and for all these years but i have no known gillian mckenzie for ten years. an amazing woman. let me be crystal clear. if she hadn't kicked off 20 years ago, she went to the police within weeks of her mother 's death, and it was ignored. ijust wonder how many lives, i'm wonder how many people would be alive today. so someone had listened to her, and not dismissed. but awful sense of the closing of ranks around the doctor and the medical staff, not wanting to investigate their concerns. peter walsh, you nodding

in agreement what are the families hoping for today because there have been reports, as we heard.” hoping for today because there have been reports, as we heard. i would echo what has been said about the tremendous fight that these families have put up over 20 years. we started getting involved when i had the privilege of meeting some of them in 2008. we managed to get some of them representation at an inquest. we shall surely get some sense of closure of indication today but to do that, they will have to see people being named and held to account. and by that, i mean not just people at the front line, just the people who prevailed over the suppression of information at government level. for over ten years have i to report, the bacon report... hang on, the argument was that police were carrying out the inquiries and you could not release the report because it could

prejudice the investigation. that is standard when it comes to criminal law in this country. not totally credible because even after the police investigations were still suppressed and there's nothing to stop the police acting on the recommendations of the report even if it is not published. the lib dems we re if it is not published. the lib dems were in power with the conservatives in that period. who suppressed it? alaves i came into the department of health in 2012 and started asking questions. i asked to see the report. two other or three months of nothing happening. we happened to go to france on holiday in the summer and one evening i opened an e—mail from my private secretary saying that tomorrow they will publish the bacon report and announced in a public inquiry. they being the department of health. —— the baker report. i was incandescent. they

knew i had been working on this, together with stephen. i said, on no account must budget statement be made tomorrow! don't say anything libellous but who was suppressing that report? i don't know but i hope that report? i don't know but i hope that today will tell us more. we we re that today will tell us more. we were in correspondence with ministers prior to norman getting into government and they blank refused to have an inquiry. that's a separate issue. i'm asking about the suppression. for two or three months i wasn't getting access to the report from officials. another minister signed of the decision not to hold a public inquiry but is a spec that they were not told the full story. i do not think that they we re full story. i do not think that they were told of my involvement, the fa ct were told of my involvement, the fact that i asked to see the report. sol fact that i asked to see the report. so i came back wanting to know what had happened and saying we needed some sort of investigation. we will

see what happened, thank you very much. we will of course report back on the inquiry on the bbc news channel. i've got a statement here. nhs southern health nhs foundation trust, which now runs gosport war memorial hospital, declined to comment ahead of today's report. after her gmc hearing, drjane barton said she had been under "excessive burden" at the time, and that she "did her very best" for her patients. there will be more on that story later today on the news channel. still to come, as the row over the us administration's policy of separating migrant children from their parents intensifies, we talk to the photographer who took this image at the mexico—us border of a girl crying as she is separated from her mum. i may have said this before but i will say it again! it's set to be another dramatic day in parliament today, with a crucial vote due to take place in the commons later. mp5 will decide whether to vote in favour of a house of lords

amendment that would give parliament greater control over the brexit process. it's a really important moment, but as so often with brexit, it's not exactly simple. we'll get norman smith to put us in the picture shortly, but first, here's an explanation of how we got here. it's yet another big moment in brexit land. and today, two years on from the vote, the stage is set for a showdown. admittedly, the story of how we got here is a bit complicated, but, like many rows in westminster, this one is ultimately all about power. in this case, who will wield the most control in the final stages of brexit — mp5 in parliament, or government ministers? so, how did we get here? well, the first thing to understand is that the government is still trying to get our old friend, the eu withdrawal bill, passed into law. that's the key piece of legislation that the government needs to get through if its grand plan for brexit is going to work. the bill has been going back and forth from the house of commons to the house of lords with each

house voting on amendments or changes to the bill to try and force the government to agree to certain terms and conditions around how we negotiate brexit. last week, the lords voted in favour of an important change on the question of a so—called meaningful vote. this would have given parliament, not the government, control if theresa may failed to reach a divorce deal with the eu, or if mp5 didn't like the divorce deal that theresa may came back with. it would then be for parliament to decide what happened next. mp5 could send her back to the negotiating table to seek better terms, or even put the proposed divorce deal before the people in a second referendum. the basic objective was to avoid the possibility of theresa may presenting whatever deal she strikes with the eu as the only option available besides crashing out of the bloc with no deal at all. but, the government thinks that giving this kind of control to parliament would bind theresa may's hands in the negotiations. so, when the proposal came back to the house of commons last week, it was thrown out, along with an alternative suggestion put

forward by would—be rebel—in—chief, dominic grieve. in exchange for abandoning their rebellion and voting in favour of chucking out the lords amendment, the government made certain promises to rebel backbenchers, designed to address their concerns. the trouble was, that when the government made its plan public, the rebels, dominic grieve amongst them, were not impressed. they said the government had gone back on their agreement, and that the new amendment didn't address their concerns at all. the government quickly learned that in brexit land, hell hath no fury like a backbencher scorned. the bill went back to the lords, who, on monday voted against the plan put forward by the government. they also adopted a version of the meaningful vote amendment supported by dominic grieve & co. today then, the bill is making its merry way back before the commons again. and it's farfrom clear whether the government will have the support it needs to once again give the lords changes a parliamentary drubbing. what is certain is that for whoever loses the vote,

today will be a very bad day in brexit land. that wasjohn owen reporting. let's speak to our political guru norman smith. 0k, ok, norman. what is at stake tonight? tonight matters because it's different to all the other brexit showdowns we have had, in that this time, it seems both sides are determined not to back off. let's be honest, you're probably heard me going on and on about how tonight will be a critical vote, a real clash and a showdown. it always tends to fizzle out. i think not because the tory rebels feel that theresa may has betrayed them and they are furious. mrs may feel such cannot cede control of the negotiations to parliament. more than that she thinks she's got the

numbers to win. so both sides seem to have decided that this is it, is a real trial of strength. this matters not just because a real trial of strength. this matters notjust because of whether the vote consent theresa may back to the vote consent theresa may back to the negotiating table if there is no deal in itself, it is crucial because i think we've reached one of the defining moments when we will find out whether mrs made's brexit rebels have the numbers and the resolve to de vita —— whether gillian mckenzie's rebels have the numbers. what she lost. huge blow to her authority especially you think she has to go to brussels next week to begin the critical negotiations, she would go in pretty much broke— backed. at the same time if mrs may

lost this trial of strength that would give enormous confidence and strength to the rebels, to think ok, we have beaten mrs may on that, we can beat again on the customs union, on immigration, maybe on the meaningful vote. it would hugely strengthened their position. all of which said, i am not sure they will be able to do it. because some of them you two were frankly uneasy about inflicting such a defeat on mrs may just about inflicting such a defeat on mrs mayjust days before she goes into the negotiating table. others say let's wait until after the negotiations and something that dominic grieve hasjust negotiations and something that dominic grieve has just got a bit too close to some people, bluntly, whose aim is to derail brexit. when you put that together with some labour brexiteers who will back mrs may my guess is that she will squeak home. we'll see, thank you norman. still to come.

as anger grows over the american policy of separating migrants from the children and the us— mexico border president trump is due to meet congress. and we'll be looking around the world at how other countries have approached the medicinal use of cannabis and the recreational use. and we will bring you more of your comments, another massive rate sponsor on the subject of cannabis this morning. before that the latest news. time for the latest news — here'sjoanna. an inquiry into hundreds of deaths at gosport war memorial hospital in hampshire will publish its findings this morning. a previous investigation found that — over 12 years from 1988 — patients, many of them elderly, were almost routinely given powerful painkilling drugs. it concluded that the drugs had "almost certainly" shortened

despite three police investigations, no one has ever been charged with a criminal offence. the row over how much of a say mp5 should get in the brexit process returns to the house of commons later. on monday, the house of lords again defeated the government over giving mp5 a "meaningful vote" on the outcome of negotiations between the uk and the eu. mp5 now have to decide whether they agree with the lords or with the government. a small group of rebel conservative mp5 are threatening to vote against the government if it doesn't make further concessions meaning numbers in the commons are expected to be tight. president trump and republicans in the us congress have agreed that urgent legislation is needed to end the practice of separating migrant children from their parents at the border with mexico and being kept in separate inprisonment facilities. critics have said mr trump could stop the practice by simply removing the zero—tolerance policy his administration introduced. the us homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen, who's defended the trump policy, was confronted by protesters as she dined at a mexican restaurant in washington. the united states has pulled out of the un human rights council,

accusing the organisation of being hypocritical and biased against israel. the us envoy to the united nations, nikki haley, said the council was a "cesspool of political bias", whose members targeted countries with positive human rights records to distract from their own abuses. she said calls for reform in the council had been ignored. that's a summary of the latest bbc news. thank you for your messages about cannabis. "i've used cannabis for recreational purposes for years and find it helps relieve stress related symptoms. i had no long—term problems with it which is more than ican problems with it which is more than i can say having lived under a conservative government for years. it is about the only thing that has helped me survive the effects of having to do so. i think it should be legalised for medicinal use as a priority". this text from a doctor

working in the nhs, "i disagree with one of baroness meacher‘s points, she claimed cannabis was far less dangerous than many licensed drugs. no medical professional has claimed this. one of her examples was steroids which are licensed and cause considerable harm. i would remind her the adverse effects of steroids including psychosis were only discovered after they were licensed. i don't think anyone can claim cannabis is safer because we simply don't know". this text from michelle, "i'm breaking the law, i grow my own medical cannabis, i can buy the seeds illegally but growing it is illegal. how ridiculous is that? i risk arrest but it has to be better than being on the streets trying to access it as a 62—year—old woman. i live with orfor chronic pain due to arthritis and degenerative disc disease and multiple spinal surgeries. i've come off the opioids which have been poisoning me since my medical cannabis use has become regular. the

law must be changed to something similarto law must be changed to something similar to california so i can legally use the best strain for my condition". thank you for those. here's some sport now with hugh. andy murray says he's still not sure if he'll be competing at this year's wimbledon, after making his return from nearly a year out injured yesterday. he was beaten by nick kyrgios in three sets in the opening round at queen's. captain eoin morgan praised england's intensity and the one day side wrapped up a series win over australia in record—breaking fashion with a new highest international score of 481. hosts russia are on the brink of becoming the first side into the last 16 at the world cup thanks to their second win of the tournament last night. they beat egypt 3—1 to make it two wins from two. and i think i see a unicorn... england were splashing around in their recovery session yesterday before a day off today to see family and friends, theirfirst time off since arriving in russia. that's all the sport for now. we will have more after 11am.

2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the us's border with mexico in little over a month. anger is growing in the states over president trump's policy of splitting up families entering the united states illegally, with even his own wife saying she "hates to see" children separated from their families. just after the president left talks in washington, he was heckled by democrats over the policy. have a look. quips separating the children, mr president. don't you have kids? —— quit separating. mr president. we had a great meeting. these laws have been broken for many years, decades but we had a great meeting. thank you. but far from bowing to public pressure, the president took to twitter to complain about illegal immigrants who, as he put it, "pour into and infest our country." he also continued to blame the democrats, even though

republicans control both chambers of congress. but as the political arguments roll on, doctors and scientists are warning that there could be long—term, irreversible health impacts on children separated from their parents if they're not reunited soon. have you seen the photos of children in cages? have you heard the audio clip of these children wailing that just came out today? i have not seen something that came out today, but i have been to detention centres and again i would reference you to our standards, i would reference you to the care provided, notjust by the department of homeland security, but by the department of health and human services when they get to hss. is that the image of this country that you want out there? children... the image i want of this country is an immigration system that secures our borders and upholds our humanitarian ideals. congress needs to fix it. yes? the latest from the us in a moment.

first, john moore works for getty images, where he is a special correspondent and senior staff photographer. he took this photograph at the mexican border last week, which has had a huge impact on the debate. it shows a girl from honduras crying as her mother is detained and searched by us border patrol guards in texas. i spoke to him earlier from his home in connecticut. i was in texas‘ rio grande valley, which is on the border with mexico in very southern texas and it's an area which is the most heavily trafficked for people and drugs along the entire us—mexico border. before you took it, describe what was going on. i was out with the border patrol, which works very heavily in that region to intercept people who are crossing the border illegally and also turning themselves in for political asylum. i was with the border patrol from afternoon into evening, and late into the night, as they received people who were coming across the rio grande in rafts from mexico.

and a group of people, mostly women and children, about 20, gathered on a road and the border patrol came upon them. i was with the agents at the time. they shone a spotlight on this crowd who were very scared and they had come across at night to unfamiliar territory. as the border patrol started working with them to take names and the documents, that's how the scene started. right, and you saw a mother, i understand, put down her little girl? we are looking at your image right now, the image that has gone right around the world. and you continued to photograph? i saw this mother with a young daughter and i talked to the mum in spanish for a very brief period of time. i asked where she was from and she said they were from honduras. they had been travelling for a month

to finally reach the us—mexico border and i can tell you, because i have travelled this journey with immigrants before, documenting their experience, it is a very difficult road to travel. most people who come that way, they come with very little money and they travel on train tops, often. they walk long distances under very poor weather conditions and she had a very weary look when i talked to her briefly. there were other children, other mothers there in the group. i photographed numerous families as they were being documented to be processed after being taken to a processing centre later on. now, the mother, she was asked to put her child down while the mother was patted down by an official. i could tell the look in the child's eye, she was afraid.

the mother set down her little girl and immediately the child started screaming, crying. there was an acute case of separation anxiety. i am a father myself. i have three children, two daughters and a son who is a toddler. and separation anxiety, any parent know, is a realfearfor many children and this would have been an extreme case of that. of course, at that moment presumably you had no idea this image would travel around the world and become a symbol of president trump's policy? in many ways, i was surprised by the way this photograph touched so many people. in the moment, i knew it was important. i had been photographing all day,

into the night, waiting to try and get a moment, capture a moment that made me feel. the photographs we remember are the ones usually that make us feel and touch our hearts in some way. and when i photographed this mother standing there with her hands on the transport vehicle, spread out as she was body searched by an official and her little girl standing under her weeping and looking up, it was... i felt helpless to do anything in that moment. i continued photographing because as the sole witness there from the outside, you know, it was myjob and my duty, if you will, to keep photographing. you know, in moments like that, when you hear

a child, you want to help, and i had to fight every urge to put the camera down and pick her up. but this was my role. getty photographerjohn moore there. he's been covering immigration and border issues for a decade and his book called undocumented was released in march. hena doba is a correspondent for cbs news, who's been following the story. we spoke to her at the beginning of the week. she's in their new york studios. since we last spoke, there's been quite a backlash growing in the last few days. tell the audience about the kind of process that has been seen around the state, mums and dads, including republican supporters. absolutely, this is bipartisan, good morning from you. lawmakers are scrambling to end the trump administration's controversial policy of separating children from pa rents policy of separating children from parents who try to enter the us illegally but the president has not endorsed a solution. a bipartisan

group of senators is scheduled to meet later this morning in washington to come up with a plan to reunite families along the southern border. of course, this follows a meeting between president trump and house republicans last night when the president appeared to dial back his hardline stance on his era tolerance policy. during the meeting, the president urged lawmakers to fix the system but many of them say he provided no path forward. republicans are increasingly worried that a backlash from the trump administration's policy could cost them seats in the mid—term elections. policy could cost them seats in the mid-term elections. you may not know the answer to this but is it possible when they separate the children from the parents that those ties could be lost forever? absolutely, like commie former guest said, there are lots of cases of separation anxiety and as i mentioned, the trump administration has come under fire for the zero tolerance policy, prosecuting adult tolerance policy, prosecuting adult to cross the border. the outrage is

intensifying. president trump was on capitol hill yesterday trying to defuse the situation but even if the bill makes it out of the house, it likely lacks the democratic support needed to pass the senate. members of both parties say the president should not wait for congress to do something. wright thank you for joining us. good to talk to you again. —— joining us. good to talk to you again. -- thank you forjoining us. good to talk to you again. it's notjust the us that's arguing about how to handle immigrants. the arrival of massive numbers of migrants in europe over the past few years has stirred fierce debate in many eu member states, and a number of governments have started to take a much tougher line about how to treat the new arrivals. the newly elected italian interior minister has taken a tough stance on this. in a moment, we'll hear from james reynolds, who's in rome. but first, live to hungary, where today, the hungarian parliament is expected to pass new laws, which the government says will protect the country from illegal immigration.

our correspondent nick thorpe is in budapest. phil our audience in, phil ouraudience in, nick. phil our audience in, nick. yes, exactly. this is basically two sets of legislation going through the hungarian parliament this afternoon, we expect them to pass easily because the governing party has a strong majority, two thirds majority. the third is a set of laws which changed the penal code, introducing a new criminal offence namely helping illegal migrants. this targets specifically non—government organisations, groups that help asylum seekers get asylum in hungary, basically, offering them legal advice and campaigning against advocacy for —— combining for advocacy for —— combining for advocacy for —— combining for advocacy for asylum seekers. these are being penalised in hungary so effectively activists and human rights defenders could go to prison for trying to help asylum seekers in

future. does not have popular support from voters? the government argues that it does. it says and fought this election in april very much on the anti—immigration issues. and they did win a two thirds majority. so the government says it has full legitimacy. from the human rights groups, the european council of europe, from the eu point of view this is deeply problematic because it effectively appears to penalised people who for moral and practical reasons are the main people at asylu m reasons are the main people at asylum seekers and refugees depend on, if they manage to cross the very difficult hungarian southern border with serbia in the first place. thank you very much nick. let's go to rome to speak to james reynolds. what's the mood from politicians towards both illegal and legal migrants? a tough road at the

moment. he mentioned italy's new interior minister. he is now effectively the most powerful politician in the country and is also italy's leading anti—aggression price. last week he brought in a new policy to stop foreign flagged rescue boats landing in italy, those carrying rescued my drink migrants. and that policy is popular. a lot of italians say that other countries need to do more. and the italian interior minister says now he wants to count how many roma are in italy although many of them now have italian citizenship. he made one point on tv which caught attention, he said that if they had italian citizenship then unfortunately they could stay. there's been great controversy about the use of the word unfortunately. and there's

going to be a census of the population? he says they have been brought up badly, not all the children are in schools and he says he needs to check that eu funds towards the roma are properly spent. but his critics say you can't just doa but his critics say you can't just do a census of only one ethnic group. that would be illegal and unconstitutional. italy conduct a census eve ry ten unconstitutional. italy conduct a census every ten years, the next is 2021. if you have to count everyone must be counted, notjust one particular group. thank you, james reynolds, reporting from rome. some breaking news for you. a 23—year—old from enfield has been arrested on suspicion of doing an act likely to cause an explosion to injure or damage property, and endangering safety on the railway. this comes after an explosion at southgate tube in north london last night in which five people were injured. the individual has been released under investigation pending further enquiries. now, we heard some passionate arguments earlier in the programme

on both sides of the debate around the relaxation of the laws around cannabis. so, how does the uk's legislation compare to the rest of the world? many other countries, including much of the us, germany, italy and the netherlands, have legalised the use of medicinal cannabis, but very few have legalised recreational use. yesterday, ca nada's house of commons voted to legalise recreational cannabis. uruguay legalised the recreational use of cannabis in 2013, with people allowed to grow up to six plants at home for personal use. in spain, it is legal to use cannabis in private places and cultivate plants for personal use. cannabis use in the netherlands is technically illegal but possession of up to 5 grams for personal use is decriminalised, although police can confiscate the drug. recreational use is also decriminalised in several other

countries, including australia, brazil, colombia, jamaica and luxembourg. let's speak to dr mair n ryan, chair of the guideline group advising the irish government on the introduction of medicinal cannabis legislation. baroness molly meacher from the all—party parliamentary group on drug reform who you saw in the earlier debate is still here. thank you both a game for talking to us. i will start with dr mair n ryan, ifi us. i will start with dr mair n ryan, if i may. tell us the situation in ireland, possibly a fisher years ahead of the uk. good morning victoria. in ireland we began to provide medicinal cannabis and the first patient who received it, that was in december 20 16. it is available under the ministerial license, similar to what is being

proposed in the uk, whereby a doctor can apply for a medicinal license on behalf of a named patient and that patient can be given a licence which allows the importation, possession and consumption of cannabis —based products for medical use. today less than ten patients have been granted with licenses to use medicinal cannabis. but the minister recognises that patient and public demand, has committed to introduce an demand, has committed to introduce a n a ccess demand, has committed to introduce an access programme. . . less demand, has committed to introduce an access programme... less than ten patients had been given a licence? let me ask baroness molly meacher, how do you react to that? your shoulders drooping! that is not what we help our uk government would do, they are having a review of the scheduling of cannabis and the first thing that needs to happen is a rescheduling of cannabis so that a doctor could prescribe it legally

and the patient could get it on unnamed patient basis. obviously we wa nt unnamed patient basis. obviously we want them to go further and have a proper review to develop good regulations to control, the producers that would produce the cannabis to make sure that it is consistent and top quality and the re st of consistent and top quality and the rest of it, and which conditions cannabis should be prescribed for. we've had patients with parkinson's disease, crohn's disease. we know of people in terrible pain and all the epileptic children. we reckon there arei epileptic children. we reckon there are 1 million people who could benefit from this. dr mair n ryan why is it so low? less than ten have applied for the licence but the licence is an intermediary step. in

the context of that, i was asked as an independent chair to develop criminal guidelines around the use of medicinal cannabis. the indications of the irish programme will start with, epilepsy, permissions associated with multiple sclerosis, and nausea and vomiting. it is intended that there was a bit the initial conditions. after developing the programme that would also be a rescheduling of cannabis... michael collins joins us, deputy director at the drug policy alliances of this at united states, thank you for speaking to our british audience, we have a british parliamentarian and also dr mair n ryan who advises the irish

government on the introduction of additional cannabis legislation. in the us, michael, the picture is mixed in terms of all the different states and all the legislation. briefly, who allows what and where? thank you for having me on. most of the country now has some form of cannabis legalisation, some states have limited cannabis laws thatjust involve cbbc which is often used with children with epilepsy. some have more comprehensive medical cannabis laws, that is around 30 states. and then you have nine states. and then you have nine states who have fully legalised cannabis for what we call adult use. the challenge is that it is still technically illegal under federal law. the law of the land says cannabis is illegal and these states are pushing the boundaries of federal law so there is this legal limbo but it's certainly clear that

cannabis prohibition is ending soon in the united states. so that conflict between the united states and federal law, does it work in practice or not? it works as a sort of individual level. there's not really any fear for individuals following state law, the challenge is sometimes with doctors who have to work with businesses, banks, there are all sorts of challenges around there, it becomes quite challenging. baroness molly meacher, we don't know what will happen, we know what you would hope for, which is the legalisation for medicinal purposes but it has to be really

specific and carefully worked out, does not, because you don't want a bit of a mess. absolutely right. but now we have 30 states in the us that have regulated cannabis for medical use, we have to mendis experience of this. we are looking at the new york state which has a good regulatory syste m state which has a good regulatory system — — state which has a good regulatory system —— we have tremendous experience of this. we are talking to someone who contributed to the development of their regulations. it is not difficult to adapt those regulations for the uk. we can do that perfectly well. it is all about the political will. that is what this has been about and what is remarkable and these two children is that they and their mothers, primarily their mothers as suspected, have transformed the political atmosphere in this country. you mean hannah deacon, the mother of alfie, and charlotte caldwell, the mother of billy. we've

been working behind the scenes with theresa may, with the attorney general, with home office officials and ministers, health ministers, now there's a popular opinion, because they've understood the importance of cannabis as a medicine. so political will, good regulations, the samples are there, we just need to get on and get it done. thank you all for giving us so much of your time. i'm just going to read some more comments. jane says, some years ago i taught comments. jane says, some years ago itaught in comments. jane says, some years ago i taught in prison education, leading a session of the drug awareness programme. many inmates we re awareness programme. many inmates were there for drug related offences, on the subject of cannabis asa offences, on the subject of cannabis as a recreational drug, all the men said it should not be legalised. the reason was that many of them had began taking drugs using cannabis and have them progressed to other

drugs like heroin. david says, i've been using cannabis for recreational and medicinal purposes over 20 yea rs. and medicinal purposes over 20 years. it's the only thing that helps me cope with my anxiety. my hiv medication can make me lose my appetite and marijuana helps me to eat a balanced, healthy diet. thank you for all your contributions today. if you didn't contribute and you just watched, that's perfect. we'll be back at nine o'clock tomorrow. have a good day. bbc news live is coming next with the inquiry into the deaths at the gosport war memorial hospital. quite a bit of cloud this morning with misty murky conditions in the west, this is the scene in shropshire, still misty over the hills. it's breaking up as it moves south east. a bit of sunshine in the south east, sunny

spells developing in north wales, northern england, if you show us, mostly dry, temperatures are high but quite humid in the south east with highs of 26. tonight to some showers across scotland but for most of us clear spells to go into thursday morning, not as uncomfortable as it has been in previous nights, temperatures in single figures across the north, 11-13d single figures across the north, 11—13d further south, a fresher feel on thursday, we'll see some bright spells and sunshine, quite a brisk wind particularly in the north east but for many of us dry weather which will last into the bye. —— last into the weekend. bye bye. this is bbc news — and these are the top

stories developing at 11. hoping for answers — the families of hundreds of people who died at gosport war memorial hospital in hampshire wait for the findings of a report due to be published during the next hour. when i had contacted the police and saidi when i had contacted the police and said i want an appointment with somebody in cid with an allegation of unlawful killing, i had been told, my dear you are upset. the government faces a rebellion from some of its own mp5 — when the commons votes again on a key piece of brexit legislation. iam i am live at westminster where eve ryo ne i am live at westminster where everyone is waiting to see who will blink first in this latest brexit battle. as the outcry over the us policy of separating child migrants from their families at the border with mexico grows, the pope adds his voice to the criticism.