Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne said that the government would consider legalising the use of non-smoking cannabis for medical purposes if there was a request from industry or from a professional body.

Dr Fearne was commenting in the wake of the call made by former Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia yesterday evening in Parliament. Dr Farrugia urged the Medicines Authority to consider his proposal arguing that argued that opiates such as morphine were already being administered to help patients deal with pain.

In his comments Dr Fearne said that no such request had been ever made, but remarked that if that would be the case the government would consider publishing a white paper.

Asked whether the government would consider taking this initiative himself he said that it was not up to the politicians to come up with such a request.

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