For most people in the UK, the only way to access cannabis is through a private prescription. To be eligible, a patient must have a qualifying condition and generally must have tried two previously prescribed medications or treatments for their condition. Cannabis is a class B drug in the United Kingdom and cannot be prescribed by a primary care doctor. A cannabis-based medicine (CBM) can only be prescribed by a specialist doctor at the hospital.
The specialist will recommend that you first try other treatment options before considering a cannabis-based product.
Medical cannabis
would only be prescribed when it was considered to be in your best interest and when other treatments hadn't worked or weren't adequate. Once you start taking your medication, the clinic will request a follow-up consultation, usually within 4 weeks, to analyze your progress with medical cannabis and discuss if any changes need to be made. The cost of private medical cannabis can be prohibitive for people with low incomes, especially those with diseases that prevent them from working and raising the necessary funds to subsidize their medical needs.It is currently estimated that around 1.4 million people in the United Kingdom use cannabis of their own origin to treat medical conditions. Many clinics, including The Medical Cannabis Clinics, from across the UK, have partnered with the Twenty21 Project to make medical cannabis as accessible as possible. The people most likely to be prescribed medical cannabis on the NHS are children and adults with rare and severe forms of epilepsy, adults with vomiting or nausea due to chemotherapy, and people with muscle stiffness and spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. Even now, more than two years later, the estimated number of prescriptions in the NHS is still a few hundred, while around 1.4 million people in the UK use cannabis to treat their own medical conditions.
This is largely due to the guidelines of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which continue to state that there is a lack of evidence to support NHS cannabis prescriptions, despite the fact that this treatment works for thousands of people across the UK. If you meet the requirements, you can discuss a treatment plan with a specialist doctor or a consultant from a medical cannabis clinic to find the right dose for you and your condition. As these people are forced to commit crimes, the issue of greater access to medical cannabis remains a pressing issue and a hotly debated topic. Instead, many people across the country are turning to private medical cannabis clinics to offer them cost-effective cannabis drugs within a time frame that suits them.
This is to ensure that you have a condition that entitles you to a prescription for cannabis and allows medical professionals to find the right program for you in the future.
