Prime Minister candidates called on to improve access to medical cannabis
Families are currently having to pay thousands to access it privately
Last updated 12th Jul 2022
Baroness Molly Meacher is addressing the House of Lords today to ask leaders to consider changing the way people can currently access medical cannabis on the NHS.
The former social worker is also calling on Conservative Party leadership candidates to pledge that those needing vital medical cannabis treatment on the NHS will get access.
This comes after families said they have struggled to access the drug through our public healthcare system since it was legalised in 2018.
As a result, they have had to resort to private care with large medical bills.
Ms Meacher is expected to highlight the case of epileptic Cardiff teenager Bailey Williams, who couldn't get a NHS prescription, at the House of Lords today.
He used to have 200 seizures a day until being put on the life-saving medication and his parents are struggling to cover the cost of the £2,000 private prescription.
If he he has to come off the drug, which may occur due to its high cost, his family have been told the only other option for him is palliative care - an option the Baroness told us she thinks is shocking.
Baroness Molly Meacher has told us what the current situation looks like for accessing medical cannabis in the UK right now, what exactly she wants Conservative leadership candidates to do and why she thinks giving easier access to cannabis on the NHS will benefit everyone.
Watch the full interview here:
If medical cannabis is now legal on the NHS, why aren't people getting it?
Ms Meacher told us that this is partly because "Doctor’s haven’t been trained in medical cannabis. NHS Doctor’s feel uncertain about it."
Further to this, "At the moment consultants can only prescribe medical cannabis as an unlicensed medicine which means they have to take personal responsibility for that prescription.
It also means that effectively, medical cannabis is in the NHS category of illegal substances, so for any NHS Doctor to prescribe it, "it is quite a big thing to do."
Baroness Meacher says that for more NHS prescriptions to happen: “At the end of the day it needs to be regarded as a medicine and not an illegal substance."
What candidates for our next Prime Minister should do:
Ms Meacher stressed to us: "Medical Cannabis is still within the schedules NHS category for illegal drugs."
She then told us that Sajid Javid (former Health Secretary who legalised medical cannabis in 2018), "made one tiny step but we have to be bolder."
This is because "it is a medicine that is of huge value to probably around 2 million people across this country. People with epilepsy, people with PTSD, medical cannabis transforms people’s lives.
"I want the media to put it to all the candidates for the prime ministership and ask if they’re going to deal with this absolute scandal about medical cannabis where very sick people are not able to get it because you keep that in the illegal drugs schedules.
"I want to ask them: 'Will you promise to take it out?'"
How will giving people that need it easier access to medical cannabis benefit the NHS?
Baroness Molly Meacher told us: "Children are having 80 seizures a day, their family’s lives are being smashed and the NHS funds are being smashed too.
"We know what a hospital admission costs and these children can be there in intensive care 3 times a month. The cost of that are inordinate.
"The new health secretary needs to grasp this one and save the NHS vast sums of money and do something morally right.
"There’s a huge win-win here for everybody and the politicians need to get on with it they really do."