AMS have backed a call for cannabis to be legalised for medical use.

A motion calling on the Welsh Government to lobby the UK Government to make the drug available on prescription to people with conditions such as multiple sclerosis or arthritis was approved this afternoon.

In 2014 Wales was the first country in the UK to make cannabis-based medication Sativex available on the NHS, but the drug itself is still illegal. As criminal law is not devolved, any law making it available for medical use would have to made by the UK Government.

Opening the debate, North Wales AM Mark Isherwood said called evidence of the effectiveness of cannabis for medicinal use “compelling”.

“People living with conditions such as multiple sclerosis, dystonia, epilepsy, arthritis, cerebral palsy and cancer who use cannabis to alleviate the symptoms associated with their conditions cannot wait for a time when Wales may have the legislative competence to legalise cannabis for medicinal use,” he said.

“They should be able to make the decision without fear of prosecution.”

The Conservative AM also quoted Newport West MP Paul Flynn, who has long campaigned on the issue, saying: “The tide of world opinion is moving in the direction of legalising cannabis.”

Cwmbran pensioner Sue Cox, who was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 2014 and uses cannabis to relieve her pain, is also a prominent figure in campaigning for legalisation of the drug for medical use and spoke in the Senedd in October.

South Wales East AM Mohammad Asgar also spoke in favour of the proposal, saying: “Wales must take the lead on this”.

And Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood said the current system meant people using the drug to relieve pain were forced to break the law to obtain it.

“Retaining prohibition will not reduce cannabis use,” she said. “It just prevents safe, regulated medicinal use and pushes law-abiding people towards an illegal marketplace."

And Labour Swansea East AM Mike Hedges said: “Let the medical practitioners, not politicians, decide if patients would benefit.”

But health secretary Vaughan Gething said the issue “raises more questions than answers” and said cabinet ministers would abstain on the vote.

“I do, of course, accept that there is some evidence that cannabis or its derivatives can have a role to play in managing chronic pain, anxiety, spasticity, and nausea and vomiting in the context of chemotherapy,” he said.

“And historically, of course, a tincture of cannabis was used for pain relief alongside laudanum and opium.

“However, we are now far more aware of the damaging side effects of poorly understood, poor-quality drugs, and prefer to use safe and regulated medicines.

“And we want people to have access to licensed, effective medicines to alleviate these conditions rather than people resorting to what are currently illegal drugs of unknown provenance, potency or purity.”

AMs backed the proposal by 31 votes to two, with 18 abstentions.

In October Mr Flynn introduced a bill calling for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use, which passed through unopposed and will receive its second reading in Parliament next month.