Cannabis Investment
Cost of Living Support Needed for Medical Cannabis Patients
As a result of medical cannabis, Matthew Taylor can be a better father, but due to a lack of cost of living support he is worried that during the next few months he will not be able to afford his medication.
Matthew Taylor, a father-of-three, returned to physiotherapy for the first time in years two years after obtaining a prescription for medical cannabis.
“My physio is blown away by the progress I’m making at the moment,” said the 43-year-old in an interview with Cannabis Health News.
“I am able to do some gentle tai-chi exercises, and a couple of yoga stretches as well as the physiotherapy exercises, and there was no way I would have been able to do that before medical cannabis.”
“I just couldn’t do the exercises they wanted me to, I was in too much pain.”
Having come off most of his prescription medications, which left him a zombie, Matthew is now an active and present father to his three children.
He continues: “Cannabis has allowed me to get involved with them, I’ve been to award ceremonies to celebrate their achievements this year. We have been on days out, and I can help them with their homework. I have seen how much their confidence levels have improved.
“Before I had medical cannabis I was just in the background for all of this, on fentanyl and Tramadol and morphine patches. They would talk to me and I was just nodding and drooling in the corner, I couldn’t engage.”
As a result of his degenerative disc disease and lumbar spinal stenosis, Matthew is experiencing pressure on the spinal cord and nerves that travel through the spine.
In addition to chronic pain, muscle tension, spasticity, and neuropathic pain, he has recently been diagnosed with osteoarthritis.
“My pain is still there, I will always have to deal with it, but it’s manageable now,” says Matthew.
“I can get up and go out with my family, not as much as I’d like but a lot more often than I used to.
“I haven’t used my wheelchair since last year. My muscles are more relaxed…I have much more mobility, I can lean forward and stand up a lot easier.”
Now that Matthew has returned to physiotherapy, he hopes to be able to drive again to help his wife who has been caring for them full-time for the last eight years.
“I don’t know where I would be without her, she is the most incredible woman,” he says.
“She does everything for us. It’s been so tough for her, but medical cannabis has taken the pressure off, it’s taken the pressure off all of us.”
Cost of living support
Because he is unable to work, Matthew relies on government assistance and has recently been able to pay for his monthly prescriptions, which cost £250, with the help of a family member.
As the UK’s cost of living crisis hits hard, he is not sure how long it will last.
Energy bills are expected to top £4,000 per year in the new year, along with rising inflation that has driven up the price of food and household goods.
Benefits and universal credit recipients are expected to be the worst hit, and that’s without considering the cost of a private prescription.
“Living on benefits brings a real sense of shame of having to live off the state, but I do appreciate that it’s there because we wouldn’t have been able to survive without it,” he says.
“Without help, I cannot afford the medication, it’s as simple as that.
“We’ve had to double what we’re paying for heating and the price of everything is going up, so the additional cost of medication is just not manageable.”
Back against the wall
Matthew has few if any other options to manage his chronic pain without medical cannabis.
Last year, NICE published guidelines aimed at reducing the prescribing of opioid medications for primary pain conditions.
Patients with chronic primary pain conditions should be offered a “range of treatments” to manage their pain, including exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy, and acupuncture.
Exercise and physiotherapy, however, can seem impossible when you don’t have any treatment for your pain, as Matthew has learned.
“Medical cannabis is the only real solution to this because everything else has been taken off the table,” he says.
“If I have to come off it now, I may not have access to the medications that I was on before, I’ll be straight back to screaming again, to not being able to move, to be bedridden for days at a time, unable to sleep because my muscles are in spasm.”
Because he did not have the funds for his prescription, Matthew went without it for several months, and his health significantly declined.
As a member of PLEA’s management committee, he was forced to step aside from his voluntary work with the organization.
“Without cannabis, I’m not able to help other patients and that’s the main thing that gives me a sense of fulfilment and self-worth at the moment,” he says.
“Not being able to do that is another step back but unfortunately, that’s always looming over me.”
He adds: “I’ve had a few reminders that I should be ordering my next month of medication, but I can’t do it, because at the moment I can’t afford the £30 repeat prescription fee, let alone the money for the medication itself.
“I hope I can get some help, but if not where that will leave me, I don’t know. I won’t be able to communicate or be as involved in advocacy and I’ll probably have to step away from physio. It’s such a huge thing after all that recovery.”
