Cannabis News
Cannabis Legalisation UK: 17,000 patients have been legally prescribed
Cannabis legalisation UK: Patients with a range of conditions, from chronic pain, depression and insomnia, to epilepsy, fibromyalgia and Parkinson’s are now thought to have been treated with legal medical cannabis in 17,000 cases.
However, awareness around the law still seems to be a big issue, as otherwise law-abiding citizens have been using the black market to obtain the drug, despite changes to the law in 2018.
In an interview with Metro.co.uk, a mother of one with Crohn’s disease from South Wales talked about accessing the medical cannabis illegally, so that she could regain the strength to look after her own child.
Allowing her to be more active, work and spend quality time with her family, the cannabis alleviated her pain and stomach cramps. Now she has a legal prescription.
Other interviewees, such as a clinical researcher, said that he helped reduce his father’s tremors related to Parkinson’s disease, and massively improve his quality of sleep, by preparing brownies made with cannabis for him.
A disc jockey and director, from North London, told how accessing the drug eased many of the discomforts and symptoms related to her Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a rare form of cancer.
After the chemotherapy treatment caused some corrosion in her hip bones, she was in chronic pain and required a hip replacement, and so the cannabis proved even more important.
Despite doing research into the efficacy and benefits of medical cannabis, all of these patients had one thing in common – they weren’t at first aware they could legally obtain the medicine for the past four years.
"I could not believe they were sending flower in the post"
2018 saw parents of several children with severe forms of epilepsy campaign to let their children access medical cannabis oils containing THC, proven to help immeasurably with seizsures.
At the time the story was huge, and the zeitgeist was abuzz, but other conditions such as multiple sclerosis, anxiety and even ADHD did not receive the same coverage.
Jon Robson, managing director of private medical cannabis clinic Mamedica, told Metro.co.uk that he was surprised himself about the availability of the drug.
“About a year ago, when my old colleague informed me that there were 10,000 privately paying medical cannabis patients, I just could not believe that they were sending flower in the post,” he said.
“Even for someone like me who could see the benefit of what was going on in America and was biding my time and waiting for the framework for cannabis legalisation UK, even I was surprised last year when someone told me about it.”
The NHS are still very reluctant to prescribe, claiming they need more trials and more evidence before they start prescribing the drug en masse, despite massive public outcry and some backlash from politicians.
