06/11/2024
Sarah Sinclair
Six years on from the legalisation of medical cannabis in the UK, families have made a fresh call for NHS access, as new figures reveal lack of prescribing.
Families from across the UK returned to Westminster on Tuesday 5 November, clutching photos of their loved ones, along with stories and testimonies from dozens of patients who say they are thriving thanks to cannabis-based medicines.
They were there, as they have been every year since the law changed in 2018, to call on MPs to address the barriers preventing them from accessing these treatments on the NHS.
It comes as new figures highlight the lack of prescribing of both unlicensed and licensed cannabis medicines, including Epidiolex and Sativex, in the NHS.
According to the NHS Business Service Authority, ‘fewer than five’ patients have an NHS prescription for unlicensed cannabis medicines; Cannabis Health understands that a fourth child has now been approved for a prescription on the NHS.
In a recent FOI request, the Cannabis Industry Council (CIC) asked 152 NHS Foundation Trusts in England how many individuals they had prescribed cannabis flower between 2019 and 2023— not one replied to say they had ever prescribed these treatments.
