The UK should be a giant in medical cannabis, instead our patients are among the worst off in the world

There have been only three medical cannabis prescriptions since it became legal on the NHS. Parents continue to hear the horrific screams of their epileptic children due to a dire lack of accessibility to treatments

The UK is lagging behind in medical cannabis treatments (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Severe epilepsy is a cruel condition, forcing parents to endure what no parent should; hearing their child’s horrific scream as they endure painful seizure after seizure, the desperation in trying to help an innocent child, whose life will only ever be far from normal.

That’s why, after years of hard-fought and determined campaigning, a change in legislation on 1 November 2018, brought relief to thousands of families across the nation, as medical cannabis became legal to prescribe on the NHS.

An apparent victory, it gave so many of us hope. We genuinely believed that every child and adult who had tried a reasonable number of treatments, may get the chance to use medical cannabis.

But two years on from the change in law, and the reality is nothing of the sort, with there having been just three prescriptions granted since. The disregard shown to patients and those in need of access to the treatments in the years that have followed is a national disgrace.

Though technically legal, it is still incredibly hard to get without an expensive private prescription. NHS doctors are reluctant to prescribe medical cannabis, as they lack clear clinical guidance, not to mention the funding issues that still plague the health service.

The dire lack of accessibility has never been more prominent than in the months of the pandemic, where all too many have felt the financial strain. Yet families still have to foot the bill – costs of up to £2,000 a month – in order to access these life changing drugs.

Restrictions only continue to tighten and the political discourse surrounding medical cannabis remains largely unchanged and outdated. However, in a nation filled with favourable sentiment towards such treatments, the growing amount of evidence in favour of medical cannabis is pushing the inevitable.

But so much more needs to be done if we are to accomplish meaningful change.

In a post pandemic economy, where families are left with little choice, an urgent response to this disaster is required. We must ensure that the needs of people with serious and chronic conditions are not neglected. A timely and early intervention, ensuring the right medicine is accessible is necessary.

Neither the government nor medical community appear to be in a position to agree on who should bear responsibility for this state of paralysis. Restrictive guidance from Nice and the BPNA, and a reluctance from the government and the health service means that not one new NHS prescription for medical cannabis has been written in the last two years.

Of course, clinicians have patient safety at the heart of their decision making, but they also have an obligation to provide their patients with the best treatments available, and there is an abundance of evidence to suggest that in many cases, such treatment is medical cannabis.

The NHS is a world leading, state-owned and controlled health system, which is, unfortunately, under constant pressure fiscally and medically – and never more so than this year. It is astonishing that there isn’t the urgency to provide access to the treatments that not only give children a much better quality of life, but more importantly, keep them out of hospital.

By all rights, the UK should be a world leader in the medical cannabis industry, yet its patients are some of the worst off in the world. And all because the government appears to favour profits from lucrative exports, rather than addressing the desperate demand from its own citizens.

Instead of insulting desperate families, the government would do well to show some empathy and understanding of what they’re going through.

They’ve wasted the last two years, it’s time to ensure they don’t waste one more.

Hannah Deacon is the campaigner and founder of Maple Tree Consultancy, the UK's premier medical cannabis experts