Medical Cannabis Working Group
The Medical Cannabis Working Group is a cross-sector collaboration, which includes scientific experts, academics, policy makers and leaders of patient advocacy groups alongside industry partners
Aim
The group’s aim is to improve and accelerate access of medical cannabis in the UK for all patients.
The Medical Cannabis Working Group is a collaboration that continues to prioritise an approach which 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. 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.
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.
Drug Science believes 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 product high in THC, or the CBD market currently governed as a novel food by the Food Standards Agency.
Objectives
- Ensure provision of education and training for physicians and health care professionals
- Improve evidence base through Real World Data collection
- Explore the Cancer Drug Fund as an example of a ‘managed access’ programme
- Support the establishment of a UK medical cannabis office
- Effectively calculate demand, clarify costs and standardise insurance criteria
- Ensure effective communication between stakeholders, involve patients and address patients concerns
- Address stigma within the medical profession and the media
- Advocate for transparency across industry relationships
Project Twenty 21
Project Twenty21 is Europe’s largest real-world data registry to document efficacy, safety, quality-adjusted life year, and patient reported outcomes in prescribed medical cannabis in the UK.
Through Project Twenty21, eligible patients can access affordable medical cannabis treatment, monitored by Drug Science. The project aims to enrol 20,000 patients by 2021, creating the largest body of evidence for the effectiveness and tolerability of medical cannabis. The findings of Project Twenty21 will provide evidence for NHS funding if the benefits of treatment with medicinal cannabis is proven to outweigh the potential risks.
Scientific Committee
Professor of Neuro-psychopharmacology
Professor of Psychopharmacology
Honorary Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist
Emeritus Professor
Professor of Addictions
Professor of Neuropsychiatry
Consultant Addiction Psychiatrist
Director, CPASS
Consultant Stroke Physician
Consultant Psychiatrist
Policy Specialists
Chair, APPG for Drug Policy Reform
Visiting Professor, LSBU
Director, CPASS
Medical Cannabis Advisor
Manager, MCCS
General Practitioner, PCCN
Senior Research and Policy Officer, CDPRG
Patient Advocates
Director, MCCS
Outreach Lead, PLEA
Advocacy Lead, PLEA
Partners
The Medical Cannabis Working Group is supported by unrestricted educational grants from the following partners:
