Cannabis News
UK Doctors’ Perspectives on Challenges to Prescribing Medical Cannabis: A New Report
New Report Identifies Challenges to Prescribing Cannabis-Based Medications in the UK
Volteface, a drug reform agency, has published a report on the challenges preventing more UK clinicians from prescribing cannabis-based medications. This report, entitled “Known Unknowns of Medical Cannabis,” brings together the perspectives of numerous clinicians to identify the most important issues preventing cannabis from becoming more widely prescribed.
In 2018, the law changed to allow specialists to prescribe cannabis for medicinal purposes. This is the first time practitioners have been able to voice their opinions in this way.
Only 100 of the UK’s 40,000 specialist clinicians are currently prescribing cannabis, despite cannabis being eligible for prescription by over 40,000. Several issues are identified in the report, including a lack of governance, a lack of high-quality evidence, and a lack of education or support for doctors prescribing cannabis.
These doctors are viewed as “gatekeepers” to expanding access to cannabis-based medicines, and encouraging them to prescribe is critical if more patients are to benefit from such treatment.
Doctor's Perspectives on Challenges to Prescribing Medical Cannabis in the UK
According to the report, the majority of the doctors polled expressed an interest in prescribing cannabis, but they want it to be treated like any other new medication, which means it must meet the necessary evidential and regulatory standards, such as undergoing randomised control trials (RCTs).
Some fear that calls to treat medical cannabis differently and circumvent these regulatory frameworks will undermine its credibility. Dr. Chris Derry, a neurologist interviewed for the report, stated that standard, medical-grade evidence from RCTs of a pharmaceutical-grade drug is required first.
Most of the doctors also believed that real-world evidence on medical cannabis was skewed due to cannabis community preconceptions that amplify the medicine’s perceived benefits rather than determining its true efficacy. As a result, many of those interviewed were sceptical of the medical cannabis industry.
According to Dr. Euan Lawson, a GP quoted in the report, the sector is currently attempting to build evidence through biased observational studies, and the current model is to give cannabis to patients who want it and expect it to work.
Examining the Attitudes of Different Medical Specialties Toward Medical Cannabis
Dr. Richard Davenport, a neurologist, has spoken out about the risks of treating cannabis differently than other drugs. He claims that this is due to a lack of understanding about the drug rather than doctors wanting cannabis to fail or denying it to their patients, as is frequently depicted in the media.
According to the report, neurologists were especially wary of prescribing cannabis, while gastroenterologists saw little evidence to support its use in their field. Cannabis and its potential efficacy piqued the interest of pain specialists.
Psychiatrists were open to their patients using CBD, but had reservations about THC, particularly in the context of psychosis and treating individuals with complex mental health conditions. Some psychiatrists believed that cannabis could be a safer and more effective treatment when combined with psychotherapy.
Allowing doctors to prescribe cannabis could improve access, as it has in Australia, where doctors have been able to write prescriptions for the drug since 2019. However, Dr. Mark Smith, a UK-based GP who recently returned from Australia where he prescribed medical cannabis for three years, notes that there are differences in the two countries’ healthcare systems that may make implementing a similar system in the UK difficult. He also mentions that due to a lack of education and exposure to the drug, many specialists and general practitioners in the UK are unfamiliar with medical cannabis.
