Cannabis oil rules to be relaxed by Home Office

[anonymous-user]

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/cannabis-oil-rules-hom...

Cannabis oil rules to be relaxed by Home Office, making it available on prescription within a month

Pretty big news really, and finally seeing sense.

[Kccv23highliftcam]

So if it's on prescription it will be the correct stuff and not some lash up from someones bathroom...

really good news for the sufferers who need it.

[BerlinChris]

Looks as though the war on drugs is slowly but surely coming to an end. Whilst this wont make smoking a joint legal, I would be very surprised if smoking it is still illegal in 10 years. The many health benefits of cannabis are finally being recognised by the UK government and all I can say to that is, bravo!

[Gareth79]

Bad reporting I think?

"Cannabis oil and other medicinal cannabis treatments do not produce a high. The component THC, found in recreational marijuana, is only allowed in small quantities in medicinal cannabis treatments."

The Billy Cauldwell case was specifically about oil containing large amounts of THC, and that is what it being made legal. CBD oils with very small amounts of THC are already available without prescription (not sure if it can be prescribed, I doubt anyone would bother trying?). I assume it does in fact produce a high too?

[anonymous-user]

not sure but it is a start. for ms sufferers it makes a big difference.

[don'tbesilly]

Kccv23highliftcam said:

So if it's on prescription it will be the correct stuff and not some lash up from someones bathroom...

really good news for the sufferers who need it.

I'd agree, however it might not be as simple as the headline suggests:

article said:

Specialist doctors, it is expected, will be able to prescribe for people suffering chronic pain, epilepsy, chemotherapy nausea or MS and patients will no longer need to try other drugs before gaining a prescription for cannabis-derived treatments.

For MS sufferers a specialist doctor may well be their neurologist, so not nearly as accessible as your local family GP.

Your local GP can/could access a patient's health record to confirm the neurologists diagnosis and previous treatments, and could prescribe the oil far more readily than a neurologist who due to their rarity and workload will find it difficult to make the time for consultations resulting in just a prescription.

I'd hope that red tape won't impact on sufferers (whatever the condition) who might find getting a subscription not as easy as would appear to be the case.

[B210bandit]

A friend of mine dying from brain cancer finds pot helps her with all sorts of things like speech, anxiety, nausea. Bloody stupid she has to be a criminal when she is dying and the UK exports more legal marijuana than anywhere else.

[BlackLabel]

Only 6 patients have recieved medicinal cannabis since it was legalised in November – all on private prescriptions. No NHS patient has benefited yet from the change in law.

https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l753