• Develop and deliver scientific research on medical cannabis

• Ensure provision of education and training for physicians and health care professionals

• Improve evidence base through Real World Data collection

• Ensure effective communication between stakeholders, involving patients and addressing patients concerns

• Address stigma within the medical profession, media and the general pubic

• Advocate for transparency across industry relationships

• Ensure wider patient access

Rationale

The Medical Cannabis Working Group is a collaboration that continues to prioritise an approach that includes:

(i) Medical education,
(ii) Reasonable access to patients in need and patients seeking medical cannabis, along with
(iii) The collection of robust real-world data that may inform effectiveness and safety, along with QALY and patient reported outcomes. 

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These approaches are key in the implementation of an effective access programme in the UK that is most likely to have the best public health outcome.

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It is clear that whilst there is great progress in access to medical cannabis being made worldwide, patients in the UK are being prevented from accessing potentially beneficial treatment, despite cannabis having been legally classified as a medicine since November 2018. Since then, only a handful of patients have received a prescription on the NHS, despite lobby and patient groups suggesting the number of patients currently using illicit cannabis for therapeutic purposes in the UK to be in the region of 1.4 million people.

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We believe that a balance must be struck between the access demands of patients based on unmet need, the risk of a burgeoning illicit market in the context of restricted access, and the collection of data to monitor safety. Medical cannabis is already being made available in significant numbers in Europe and in other countries, whilst patients in the UK are being driven to the illicit cannabis market characterised by irregular products high in THC, or the CBD market currently governed as a novel food by the Food Standards Agency.

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If you are interested in joining the Medical Cannabis Working Group as a corporate partner, please contact Anne Schlag (CEO).

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