This month we're celebrating another fantastic clinic joining us, plus some of the exciting events that we're involved with in the coming weeks - including one organised by a Twenty21 patient. And there's even more in the pipeline - as always, we'll keep you fully up-to-date with our monthly newsletters.

We're thrilled to announce that we've partnered with a researcher at University of East London this month to release a short anonymous survey for prescribing doctors and nurses only. The research will examine the barriers and stigma that exist in NHS and private clinics currently preventing patients from receiving accurate advice, and so blocking access pathways to medical cannabis. So if you know a medical professional who might be able to help, then please tell them about this survey, forward on this email and you'll be helping us spread the word.

We're also looking to speak with medical practitioners who would be happy to display a Project Twenty21 poster or our new flyers in their practice. So please get in touch at prescribers@drugscience.org.uk if that might be you!

Patient quote of the month

Our March data

Using a snapshot from one of our previous data sets, we have been able to show in the below map that our Project Twenty21 patients are based all over the UK - as far north as the Shetland Islands, right down to the foot of Cornwall.

Our medical cannabis patients, whose age currently ranges from 18 to 96 years old, are not focused only in metropolitan areas but are geographically very spread out, which suggests a diverse and varied group of people. These are people from all walks of life, which only serves to demonstrate further why cannabis-based medicines should be made available for everyone to access on the NHS.

We can see that there's barely a constituency in the UK that doesn't have a medical cannabis patient in it - MPs need to know that this is an issue that affects all of us. By being part of Project Twenty21, our patients are helping us gather the evidence to make the case even stronger for the NHS funding these much-needed medicines. 

This month we're welcoming Feel Clinics, headed up by Dr Dani Gordon, onto the project. A world-leading expert in cannabis medicine and integrative medicine pioneer, Dani is currently Vice Chair for the UK Medical Cannabis Clinician's Society (UKMCCS) and has long been a supporter of Project Twenty21. She has presented on her experience as a medical cannabis prescriber alongside Drug Science team members at many events to date, as well as being a key speaker at our 'Medical Cannabis Prescribing for GPs' webinar earlier this year. 

Feel Clinics offers patients an effective and less invasive approach to care based on the latest evidence from the field of integrative medicine. This tailored, holistic method focuses on the whole person, and includes both drug, non-drug and natural approaches in order to uncover and treat the root cause of complex symptoms and chronic illness. 

If you wish to enquire about joining Project Twenty21 through Feel Clinics, simply keep an eye on our website where later this month Feel Clinics will be added to our directory. 

Want to hear the latest on research and Project Twenty21 from the Drug Science team themselves? Come along to The CBD Show on Friday 22nd April in London. Hannah Thurgur, Rayyan Zafar and Mags Houston from Drug Science will be talking about their recent work with medical cannabis.
 

 

Tickets are free for general public to attend, with exhibitors and influences giving presentations and talks over two whole days. There will be around 100 suppliers and over 50 high profile speakers, all under one roof, so it's definitely one not to miss.

Come and find us at Hyde Park on 20th April from around midday for what has become known as 'Weed Day' - more on what it's all about here. The Drug Science team will be there and eager to chat about medical cannabis and how to access it through Project Twenty21. We will have flyers to give out, so if you make it down then please do come and say hello! 

One of our incredible Project Twenty21 patients is holding her own medical cannabis awareness event in Dover next week. Kay only recently joined the study, although she's has been a cannabis advocate for many years. After sharing her experience through social media, she was inundated with requests for information. So, being an events manager by trade, Kay thought it would be a great opportunity to hold an engagement event and give people the chance to meet with professionals and hear all about medicinal cannabis, access pathways and, of course, Project Twenty21. Kay hopes this event will be the first of many.

"For me personally, without Project Twenty21 I would not currently be in a position to access medicinal cannabis due to financial reasons, so it is a big part of my journey and one which I would very much like to share with guests at the event."     - Kay
 

 

Although there's already a full line-up of speakers, Kay is keen for a local Project Twenty21 patient to speak about their experience - so if that's you, then get in touch here! Speakers will include anthropologist & researcher, Dr Axel Kelin, as well as a Zerenia Clinic representative. Patients are welcome to vape their prescription during the evening.

The event will be in Dover, Kent - Thursday 21st April - 7pm. Everyone is welcome, no ticket needed. Mark yourself as 'Going' on the Facebook event.

If you’re not receiving questionnaires to fill in every 3 months, then it is unlikely you are registered with the project. Make sure you contact your clinic to check you are a Project Twenty21 patient and they can set this up for you if you’re not already on our system. You can email our team if you need our support.

That way you can join the 2500 patients already contributing their data to help us move closer to our goal of medical cannabis access on the NHS.

The CBD Show - 22nd/23rd April
Rayyan Zafar, Dr Hannah Thurgur and Mags Houston from the Drug Science team will be taking part in a panel discussing access to medical cannabis and the latest research from Drug Science. The show is FREE to attend and runs over 2 days. The Drug Science panel will take place 2-2.45pm on Friday 22nd.
Get your free ticket here.

The Future of Drugs: Action For Change (Drug Policy London Symposium, in-person & live-streamed) - 24th April, 1.30pm-late
Our Honorary Research Assistant, Rayyan Zafar, is on the speaker line-up for this London-based event run by the Psychedelic Society. Rayyan will be speaking at this conference-style event about why we've only seen 3 whole plant medical cannabis prescriptions in the past 3 years on the NHS, as well as what needs to change to enable better access to this medicine. Hosted by Head of Project Twenty21, Mags Houston.  Buy tickets here.

Medical Cannabis Explained (training for medical professionals) - 4th May
Our next CPD certified training session for medical professionals is a perfect opportunity for doctors to ask questions face-to-face with our Clinical Director, Prof Mike Barnes. Find out more and register.

Mental Health & Wellbeing Show Cardiff - 10th May
Drug Science will have a stand at the MHW Show in Cardiff this year! So if you're Wales-based then pop in to see us, grab a flyer, talk to us about Project Twenty21 and ask us any questions you might have about the research we're doing. Find out more here.

As we analyse the data and receive more and more stories from patients, the importance of Project Twenty21 has never been clearer.

If you’d like to support Project Twenty21, to help us gather evidence for medical cannabis to be covered by the NHS, please consider a donation to Drug Science. Every little bit helps us continue the essential work that we do.

Missed our March update? Read what we were up to last month here.