CAMPAIGNING East Lancashire MP Gordon Prentice today welcomed Home Secretary David Blunkett's promise that cannabis was to be reclassified making the drug available for medicinal use.

Currently it is a class B drug and cannot be prescribed by doctors. Mr Blunkett wants to make it a class C drug opening the way to medicinal use and making its possession no longer a reason for arrest by police.

Mr Prentice, secretary of the all party MS group, has long campaigned for cannabis to be available through doctors to reduce pain and suffering for victims of multiple sclerosis, arthritis and other chronic conditions.

Cannabis and its derivatives were lawful for medical use until the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act.

Mr Blunkett said today that he hoped to see cannabis used medically by next summer after the completion of clinical trials.

He said in the same way that heroin derivatives could be used for medical purposes, so should cannabis derivatives.

Pendle MP Mr Prentice said: "Yesterday's announcement was unexpected but very welcome. Eighteen months ago I predicted that the medical use of cannabis would be given the go ahead by the government. I am delighted it will be returning to the medicine chest.

"It will make a huge different to the sufferers of many diseases.

"The important thing about the change is that it will allow doctors to prescribe cannabis derivatives for pain relief and other medical purposes. It will make a major difference to many people in pain.

"There is also the question of freeing police resources to tackle hard drugs as they will no longer have to pursue and arrest people for possession of cannabis. Currently 70 per cent of police time on drugs is spent on cannabis.

"This is a brave decision by Mr Blunkett. For a long time the government has been paralysed on the issue by fear that it will be seen as soft on drugs."