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Theresa May has announced that homeopathic medicine will receive a specific exemption from the government’s new law banning psychoactive substances, despite a shortage of scientific evidence that homeopathic medicine actually has any psychoactive effect.
The home secretary has written to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to confirm that the government will use parliamentary time to amend draft legislation in order to specifically exempt all homeopathic treatments from the forthcoming psychoactive substances bill, which is designed to act as a blanket ban on any substances that have an effect on the brain.
Homeopathic medicine involves ingesting highly diluted substances and is described by NHS Choices as a treatment that performs “no better than placebos” and is based on principles that are “scientifically implausible”.
Despite this, May said the government will use parliamentary time to ensure the forthcoming ban on mind-altering substances does not inadvertently criminalise homeopathy providers.
May wrote: “We are now proposing an amendment that will exempt all homeopathic and herbal products from the Bill. These will continue to be regulated by medicines legislation.”
The letter was copied to health secretary Jeremy Hunt and policing minister Mike Penning, both of whom signed a 2007 motion in parliament backing the provision of homeopathic treatment on the NHS.
Read full, original post: Theresa May Alters Drug Law To Ensure Homeopathy Remains Legal
