40. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up its recommendation to the Council of 25 October 2007 on production of opium for medical purposes in Afghanistan and to support the civil society initiatives cooperating with countries producing drugs in the fight against drugs and their possible positive effects in those countries' democratisation process; stresses the importance of promoting for example pilot schemes such as 'poppies for medicine', which are intended to switch some of the existing illegal cultivation of poppies to industrial production of legal, opium-based painkillers and to consider the benefits which may ...[+++] be derived from the granting of licences for the use of poppy crops for medical purposes, as well as to determine in what way this may be brought about and with what controls under the responsibility of the UN;

40. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up its recommendation to the Council of 25 October 2007 on production of opium for medical purposes in Afghanistan and to support the civil society initiatives cooperating with countries producing drugs in the fight against drugs and its possible positive effects in those countries' democratisation process; stresses the importance of promoting for example pilot schemes such as 'poppies for medicine', which are intended to switch some of the existing illegal cultivation of poppies to industrial production of legal, opium-based painkillers and to consider the benefits which may b ...[+++]e derived from the granting of licences for the use of poppy crops for medical purposes, as well as to determine in what way this may be brought about and with what controls conducted under the responsibility of the UN;

40. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to follow up its recommendation to the Council of 25 October 2007 on production of opium for medical purposes in Afghanistan and to support the civil society initiatives cooperating with countries producing drugs in the fight against drugs and their possible positive effects in those countries' democratisation process; stresses the importance of promoting for example pilot schemes such as 'poppies for medicine', which are intended to switch some of the existing illegal cultivation of poppies to industrial production of legal, opium-based painkillers and to consider the benefits which may ...[+++] be derived from the granting of licences for the use of poppy crops for medical purposes, as well as to determine in what way this may be brought about and with what controls under the responsibility of the UN;

In the light of this situation, I think it is appropriate at least to study and take account of initiatives such as those of the Senlis Council, which is proposing a system to authorise the cultivation of opium for medical purposes in Afghanistan.

To study advanced computer-aided detection, clinical decision support systems and other IT tools to improve workflow, enhance quality of diagnosis and treatment, reduce medical error and lower costs, as well as to understand clinical decision-making and how to translate outcomes of clinical research into clinical practice and especially addressing the specificities of children, women, the elderly population and disabled persons.

I would certainly be in favour of striking a committee to look at the medical necessity of the whole procedure and allowing that committee to assess the risk.