Patients Misled: NHS’s Limited Use of Legalized Cannabis Medicine Sparks Controversy

The legalization of medical cannabis on the NHS five years ago has caused controversy, with claims that patients were misled. Although the change in the law was expected to allow specialist doctors to freely prescribe the unlicensed drug, fewer than five NHS patients have received it. Many are left with the choice of paying privately or going without. The government argues that safety needs further proof before a wider rollout can occur.

Whole-cannabis medicine, which contains the compound THC responsible for the “high,” was expected to benefit a wide range of patients. However, many doctors are unaware of it, and it is not on NHS trusts' approved lists. Some specialists cite a lack of evidence for its safety and benefits as a reason not to prescribe it.

The drug would need to undergo costly and complicated medical trials before official licensing, posing ethical concerns, especially for patients who might have to discontinue essential medication to participate in placebo trials.

Specialist doctors who do wish to prescribe unlicensed products face challenges in securing funding, as NHS England almost always rejects individual cases.

Patients who cannot access NHS prescriptions can legally pay for private prescriptions from specialist clinics. Currently, there are 31 such private prescribing centers in the UK, issuing over 140,000 prescriptions between November 2018 and 2022.

Despite the challenges, the medical cannabis market is estimated to be worth £1 billion in 2024.

The controversy highlights the gap between the promise of legalized cannabis medicine and the practical challenges patients face in accessing it.

This story was first reported by the BBC.