Medicinal cannabis is legal in the UK for the first time in nearly a century. But since last November’s law changes, some one million users are still struggling to get a prescription on the National Health Service.
Despite the UK being the world’s largest producer and exporter of medicinal cannabis, people suffering from a range of ailments struggle to access the drug.
Many in the country are left to pay hundreds per month for a prescription or obtain their oils through underground suppliers.
Cannabis oils are made up of chemical compounds known as cannabinoids, and there are hundreds of different types. “Full-extract” cannabis oil, deemed by many sufferers to be the most effective treatment, contains an illegal cannabinoid called THC.
The UK is the largest producer and exporter of medicinal cannabis in the world
While some cannabinoids can be purchased on the high street, CBD oil now available in several stores, the illegal ones are causing medicinal drugs to be very tightly controlled. Only specialist doctors can prescribe them as unlicensed medicines, while NHS prescriptions are reserved for particular cases.
Currently, prescriptions are only written for; children with rare forms of epilepsy, adults with nausea from chemotherapy and adults with muscle stiffness caused by Multiple Sclerosis.
The two exceptions are the drugs Sativex and Epiodiolex. The first is licensed and can be prescribed by NHS GPs, while the latter is currently becoming licensed. However, in the three months following November 2018’s law changes, fewer than 550 Sativex prescriptions have been written, whilst Epidiolex is being made available to 80 patients.
Kayleigh can suffer up to 200 seizures per-day. Credit: Tom Sables for City News
Dee Morris cares for 21 year-old Kayleigh, who has up to 200 seizures per-day and had her medicinal cannabis taken away:
“She’d been using full-extract medical cannabis. Physically, mentally and emotionally she began to have a quality of life she’d never had.”
“I addressed this with the neurologist, and I was evicted from the room. She told me there wasn’t enough clinical research and it’s not prescribed for the epilepsy Kayleigh is suffering from.”
But the difference in Kayleigh when the anti-epileptic drugs replaced the cannabis oils was plain to see.
“Kayleigh was vomiting pints of blood, collapsed and needed two blood transfusions. She weighed six stone at the time and was grey in colour.”
“she began to have a quality of life she’d never had”
Professor Mike Barnes is a neurologist and leading medicinal cannabis expert, who is campaigning for greater access. With figures from the United Patients Alliance revealing almost one million people in the UK are using cannabis for medical purposes, Barnes blames the health system for a lack of prescriptions.
“It’s partly the caution of the prescription and partly the restrictive guidelines for doctors. These doctors know virtually nothing about cannabis, they’ve never been taught it.
“There are levels of two or three layers of bureaucracy in the NHS that don’t exist in the private sector. They have to go through the hospital hierarchy, who will look at the clinical guidelines and decide themselves.”
“These doctors know virtually nothing about cannabis, they’ve never been taught it”
Even privately, a heavy cost awaits those seeking treatment. Dr David McDowell is a specialist clinician in chronic pain and runs The Beeches in Manchester, the first and only medical cannabis clinic in the UK. He accepts that the prices for patients are steep.
Costs of £8400 per-year are common for those seeking medicinal cannabis at the private clinic.
“In the UK we’re very happy to export huge amounts of medicinal cannabis abroad but we’re prosecuting people who are illegally obtaining it, to relieve their long-standing pain.”
One such source is Bud Buddies, who deliver cannabis oils to sufferers in the post in an underground attempt to break the deadlock.
Founder Jeff Ditchfield says, “My biggest wish is to close down, and the only way I can do that is when people stop contacting us to save their life or the life of a loved one.
The Department of Health and Social Care say they “are working hard to get the right approach including asking the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop additional clinical guidelines and working with Health Education England to provide additional training to support doctors in prescribing these products.
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Standfirst
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HeadlineCity Investigates: Prescription or Pain
Short HeadlineThe UK's fight for medicinal cannabis
StandfirstDesperate families still struggling to get prescriptions are forced to private healthcare and criminality
Medicinal cannabis is legal in the UK for the first time in nearly a century. But since last November’s law changes, some one million users are still struggling to get a prescription on the National Health Service.
Despite the UK being the world’s largest producer and exporter of medicinal cannabis, people suffering from a range of ailments struggle to access the drug.
Many in the country are left to pay hundreds per month for a prescription or obtain their oils through underground suppliers.
Cannabis oils are made up of chemical compounds known as cannabinoids, and there are hundreds of different types. “Full-extract” cannabis oil, deemed by many sufferers to be the most effective treatment, contains an illegal cannabinoid called THC.
The UK is the largest producer and exporter of medicinal cannabis in the world
While some cannabinoids can be purchased on the high street, CBD oil now available in several stores, the illegal ones are causing medicinal drugs to be very tightly controlled. Only specialist doctors can prescribe them as unlicensed medicines, while NHS prescriptions are reserved for particular cases.
Currently, prescriptions are only written for; children with rare forms of epilepsy, adults with nausea from chemotherapy and adults with muscle stiffness caused by Multiple Sclerosis.
The two exceptions are the drugs Sativex and Epiodiolex. The first is licensed and can be prescribed by NHS GPs, while the latter is currently becoming licensed. However, in the three months following November 2018’s law changes, fewer than 550 Sativex prescriptions have been written, whilst Epidiolex is being made available to 80 patients.
Kayleigh can suffer up to 200 seizures per-day. Credit: Tom Sables for City News
Dee Morris cares for 21 year-old Kayleigh, who has up to 200 seizures per-day and had her medicinal cannabis taken away:
“She’d been using full-extract medical cannabis. Physically, mentally and emotionally she began to have a quality of life she’d never had.”
“I addressed this with the neurologist, and I was evicted from the room. She told me there wasn’t enough clinical research and it’s not prescribed for the epilepsy Kayleigh is suffering from.”
But the difference in Kayleigh when the anti-epileptic drugs replaced the cannabis oils was plain to see.
“Kayleigh was vomiting pints of blood, collapsed and needed two blood transfusions. She weighed six stone at the time and was grey in colour.”
“she began to have a quality of life she’d never had”
Professor Mike Barnes is a neurologist and leading medicinal cannabis expert, who is campaigning for greater access. With figures from the United Patients Alliance revealing almost one million people in the UK are using cannabis for medical purposes, Barnes blames the health system for a lack of prescriptions.
“It’s partly the caution of the prescription and partly the restrictive guidelines for doctors. These doctors know virtually nothing about cannabis, they’ve never been taught it.
“There are levels of two or three layers of bureaucracy in the NHS that don’t exist in the private sector. They have to go through the hospital hierarchy, who will look at the clinical guidelines and decide themselves.”
“These doctors know virtually nothing about cannabis, they’ve never been taught it”
Even privately, a heavy cost awaits those seeking treatment. Dr David McDowell is a specialist clinician in chronic pain and runs The Beeches in Manchester, the first and only medical cannabis clinic in the UK. He accepts that the prices for patients are steep.
Costs of £8400 per-year are common for those seeking medicinal cannabis at the private clinic.
“In the UK we’re very happy to export huge amounts of medicinal cannabis abroad but we’re prosecuting people who are illegally obtaining it, to relieve their long-standing pain.”
One such source is Bud Buddies, who deliver cannabis oils to sufferers in the post in an underground attempt to break the deadlock.
Founder Jeff Ditchfield says, “My biggest wish is to close down, and the only way I can do that is when people stop contacting us to save their life or the life of a loved one.
The Department of Health and Social Care say they “are working hard to get the right approach including asking the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to develop additional clinical guidelines and working with Health Education England to provide additional training to support doctors in prescribing these products.
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