Assisted suicide in the United Kingdom Medical Journal published an editorial arguing that medical organisations like the British Medical Association ought to drop their opposition to assisted dying and take a neutral stance so as to enable Parliament to debate the issue and not have what Raymond Tallis described as a "disproportionate influence on the decision". In 2014, Labour peer Lord Falconer introduced an Assisted Dying Bill into the House of Lords. The bill proposed that terminally ill patients with a life expectancy of less than six months be given the option of a medically assisted death, subject to legal safeguards. The bill reached committee stage
Drug policy of Canada to a maximum of life imprisonment, the penalties for the possession of drugs in Schedule VIII (up to 30g of cannabis and 1g of hashish) decreased to a maximum six months imprisonment and/or a maximum fine of $1000. Since the enactment of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, various courts have struck down parts of the law and amendments have been passed by Parliament. In 2001, Canada became the first country in the world to legalize the use of cannabis for the terminally ill and three years later the Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler announced that legislation is being proposed