I’m awake at 4.20am and can’t get back to sleep, so I lie awake thinking about what I want to say (given the chance) on the Victoria Derbyshire show this morning, and wondering whether or not I’m expected to speak at Doctor Frank’s meeting in Parliament this afternoon. I get up when my alarm goes off (at 5.30am), have a quick cup of tea and then drive to Gunton station to catch the 6.05am train to London.
All goes according to schedule until I get to Liverpool Street station, and the taxi that is meant to take me to the television studio is late. After waiting (in vain) for over 15 minutes, I decide to travel to Oxford Circus on the underground, and stagger the distance from the station to Broadcasting House, arriving hot, sweaty and exhausted just in time to be included in the discussion on medicinal cannabis. I give a brief history of my cannabis use to alleviate my Parkinson’s Disease symptoms, fail to mention the cannabis research company that my journalist friend wanted me to mention (the opportunity didn’t arise) and then it’s all over.
In the green room I get chatting to the chap that runs all of the UK cannabis clubs (Greg De Hoedt), Norman Lamb MP and Baroness Meacher, all of whom were complimentary about my contribution, and very hopeful that the law will change in the next few weeks to enable doctors to prescribe cannabis to their patients.
Greg and I left the studios together and grabbed a bite to eat before heading off to Westminster to attend Doctor Frank’s meeting in Parliament (to which Greg was also invited).
After traipsing up many flights of stairs, we arrived at the appointed venue only to find that it had been changed, but nobody seemed to know where it would now be held. After a chaotic half hour, a room was acquired, the assembled crowd filed in and the meeting began. It was a bit like pushing at an open door – of the (approximately) 50 people in the room, not a single one had anything but support for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use. There were some very moving testimonies from cannabis patients, and the MPs amongst us (of which there were several) openly supported legalisation for medicinal use and were extremely bullish about this being accomplished within a matter of weeks rather than months.
I return to Norwich feeling very positive about the day’s events, which takes my mind off the sheer exhaustion that I’m experiencing – I’ll be taking it very easy for the next few days, I think.