Seven days in medicine: 7-13 September 2016
BMJ 2016; 354 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i4966 (Published 15 September 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;354:i4966
Drug laws
MPs urge government to relax medicinal cannabis laws
Cannabis should be legalised for medicinal use in the United Kingdom, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Drug Reform urged.1 The cross party group of MPs and peers called for the drug to be relisted from schedule I to schedule IV to enable people with conditions such as chronic and severe pain, insomnia, and depression to obtain it “without suffering the added stress of breaking the law.” It said that the drug should be supplied through regulated outlets such as pharmacies and cultivated by licensed growers.
Cancer
Three in four do not know obesity link to cancer
An online survey of 3293 people by Cancer Research UK showed that nearly 75% of respondents (2457/3293) were unaware that being overweight or obese increased a person’s risk of developing cancer. When asked about specific cancers, respondents were more likely to see a link with cancers in organs linked to digestion—the bowel (60%), liver (55%), and pancreas (47%)—than in other organs, such as the breast (31%), womb (21%), or ovary (22%). (Full story doi:10.1136/bmj.i4898)
Zika
Men and women should practise safe sex for six months
The World Health Organization strengthened its advice on preventing sexual transmission of the Zika virus and now recommends that men and women practise safe sex for six months after returning from an infected region, even if they have no symptoms. It previously recommended that only returning men needed to practise safe sex and …
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