Damian Marley and Professor Green have joined calls for the legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use.

A symposium, in the House of Commons, called for a change in the legal status of the drug for medicinal use in the UK.

Reggae star Marley, the youngest son of Bob Marley, said: “It’s a big part of my culture. Even before proof of the medical benefits of the plant, we were always endorsing the plant…

“We have a saying in Jamaica that ‘the herb is the healing of the nation’. With it becoming legal in various places, there’s now slowly more research that proves there is evidence of that.”

Rapper Professor Green spoke after making a BBC documentary, Is It Time To Legalise Weed?, on the issue.

He said that there was a “lack of education” on the subject “because things aren’t spoken about”.

“We’re less liberal when it comes to many things when you compare us to other parts of the world, and what we get from that is many more problems,” he said.

The panel also heard from MP Norman Lamb, Dr Frank D’Ambrosio and Kate Rothwell, who started a petition supporting the legalisation of the drug.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies is carrying out a review into whether cannabis should be made available for therapeutic use, following the outcry over the confiscation of cannabis oil from Charlotte Caldwell as she attempted to bring it into the UK for her 12-year-old son.

The Home Office later granted Billy Caldwell a limited licence for the drug to be administered in hospital for 20 days.

Prescriptions for medicinal cannabis in exceptional cases could be available within a fortnight after an expert panel was set up as a temporary measure amid the controversy.