An update on medical cannabis prescribing in the UK

Abstract

In November 2018, legalisation of medical cannabis in the UK was announced, following media reports about children with unmanageable epilepsy being denied the drug. Over two years on, the number of patients who have received NHS prescriptions for licensed cannabis medicines is estimated to be in the low hundreds, but the number of prescriptions issued for unlicensed products has been vanishingly small. This article examines the reasons why, and discusses the future role of medical cannabis.