Elderly Man Reaps Cannabis Benefits

An elderly man from St Albans has amazed his family by “dancing” after being prescribed medical cannabis to treat his severe arthritis. The 68-year-old grandfather, whose name has been changed to Robin to protect his identity, was among the increasing number of chronic pain sufferers turning to private clinics to get the drug, which he says has “been a life changer.” Robin’s arthritis started five years ago, and he quickly started to deteriorate, forcing him to use crutches. He was already considering getting a zimmer frame, but he decided to try medical cannabis instead.

Robin used morphine for four years, but it was not effective, and he continued to go downhill. However, he then started using the services of Mamedica, a private cannabis clinic in central London, and his health began to improve significantly. After just three weeks of treatment, he stopped using morphine, and after five weeks, he could move around without assistance. Robin now only needs a stick to get around, and he recently amazed his granddaughters with his newfound ability to dance.

Medical cannabis was made legal to be prescribed on the NHS in November 2018 after the high-profile cases of Billy Caldwell, 12, and Alfie Dingley, six, who both saw significant improvement in their epilepsy symptoms while taking the drug. This prompted then-Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid to review the law. However, it has since seen an extremely low uptake. While there is now an estimated 17,000 medical cannabis patients in the UK, it is understood that most of these are through private clinics, not the NHS.

Campaigners for the drug cite a lack of adequate research into its benefits, and the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) doesn’t recommend NHS doctors prescribe it due to a lack of evidence for its benefits. However, Mamedica’s managing director, Jon Robson, says they are seeing an increased uptake of their service, including from younger patients taking cannabis to help with anxiety, stress and depression, which now accounts for 40% of their prescriptions. The clinic prescribes cannabis flower, “as you would imagine people get from the illicit market,” Mr Robson said, except it “must be used in a dry herb vaporizer” to avoid the carcinogenic effects of smoking it with tobacco.