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Medical Cannabis Set To Be Made Available On NHS Prescription

Medical Cannabis Set To Be Made Available On NHS Prescription

Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, said that 'cannabis-derived medicinal products' will be available 'by the autumn' through the NHS

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

Medical marijuana will be available on prescription within weeks, the UK government has confirmed today.

The Mirror reported that Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, said 'cannabis-derived medicinal products' will be available 'by the autumn' through the NHS system.

Thousands of patients with drug-resistant conditions will potentially be allowed to use these 'products' for treatment following Mr Javid's announcement.

According to The Guardian, they should be placed in schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, allowing clinicians to prescribe them by the autumn.

PA

The decision came after the government's official drug advisers and the chief medical officer of England, Sally Davies, separately concluded there was evidence of therapeutic benefit for some conditions.

Announcing the changes, Mr Javid said: "Recent cases involving sick children made it clear to me that our position on cannabis-related medicinal products was not satisfactory.

"This will help patients with an exceptional clinical need, but is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use."

Home Secretary, Sajid Javid.
PA

This comes after a huge government u-turn following outcry at the treatment of epileptic 12-year-old Billy Caldwell.

Billy suffered seizures and came close to death after his medical cannabis oil was seized by the Home Office when Billy and his mum, Charlotte, flew into London from Canada.

In a bid to get his medication back, Charlotte said: "The Home Office, myself and my team have been working extremely hard throughout the night to make this happen, which is truly amazing.

"But there can only be one conclusion here: that my beautiful sweet little boy, who has a life-threatening form of epilepsy and one seizure can kill him, he needs his medicine back today.

"There's a lot of bureaucracy around this and we are working towards obviously Billy getting his medicine and it's just one step at a time, but we are confident the Home Office is working with us and we are going to get this done."

After the family began meeting with officials, Billy was given his cannabis oil back as a result.

Billy Caldwell and his mum, Charlotte.
PA

Currently, cannabis is a Class B drug and that is not going to change.

That means possession for recreational use will still carry an unlimited fine and up to five years' jail - rising to 14 years for dealers.

The Department for Health and Social Care along with the Medicines and Health products Regulatory Agency, will now develop a clear definition of what constitutes a 'cannabis-derived medicinal product' so they can be rescheduled and prescribed.

Only products meeting this definition will be rescheduled.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: government, News, Cannabis, UK