Regulating cannabis for medical use in the UK

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Regulating cannabis for medical use in the UK

23 June 2015

The medical use of cannabis has an extremely long history. In Chinese medicine, cannabis is one of the 50 ‘fundamental herbs’ and was traditionally used to treat a number of conditions including gout and rheumatism and as a contributor to pain relief. It was widely available in the UK and cannabis tincture was prescribed to Queen Victoria for period pains and during childbirth. More recently the utility of cannabis and some of its derivative ‘cannabinoids’ is becoming established in the treatment of a range of conditions including: the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, various forms of chronic pain, glaucoma, nausea and loss of appetite caused by chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

These advances in medical knowledge have occurred in spite of the fact that the medical application of cannabis and research into it has been suppressed under the UN Convention on Drugs (1961). It was designated as a Schedule 1 drug, that is, particularly harmful and of extremely limited medicinal or therapeutic value. This is reflected in the UK where cannabis is a class B drug, determining the level of penalty that cannabis related drug offences would attract. In terms of UK medical regulation it has been classed in Schedule 1 indicating that it is perceived as having no recognised medicinal use. Although these Schedules remain in place at UN and UK level, the regulation of cannabis for medicinal purposes is starting to become established in a number of countries across the world as forward looking countries make their own decisions on the emerging evidence. For example in the USA, medicinal cannabis can now be used on doctors’ recommendation in more than half of all States.

In the UK there is increasing acceptance within the medical profession and elsewhere of the use of cannabis and cannabis derivatives medically. However, this has been reflected only marginally in government policy and a significant number of people are not authorised to receive medication which they believe will alleviate their condition.

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