The continuing UK ban on cannabis-based painkillers is absurd and inhumane | Simon Jenkins

Politicians running scared of big pharma and the taboo around cannabis are blocking access to these vital drugs

That the government will allow a few serious epilepsy and multiple sclerosis sufferers to get cannabidiol medicine to relieve their symptoms is good news. That is all that can be said. Once more a decision emerges from the caverns of Britain's NHS that reveals the evils of a politicised, centralised, deadened health service.

Related: Legalisation of cannabis in the UK would help protect its users from harm | James Nicholls