A British patient is challenging the NHS's refusal to reimburse medical cannabis

A British patient who uses cannabis for medical purposes and whose request for public funding for her treatment has been denied several times is launching a campaign to find out why the National Health Service (NHS) continues to reject her prescriptions.

Lara Smith, a 53-year-old former pediatric nurse from Newcastle, has decided to bring together patients who have exhausted all conventional treatment options but are still unable to obtain medical cannabis covered by the NHS.

Three requests for coverage, three denials

Lara Smith has cervical myelopathy, a spinal condition that causes severe neuropathic pain, muscle spasms, tremors, and mobility issues.

After trying more than 35 medications, including fentanyl, tramadol, and ketamine, she began using prescription cannabis in 2014. According to her, this treatment significantly alleviated her symptoms while helping her regain her mental clarity.

Access to this treatment involves a considerable cost—about £600 (€700) per month for CBD oil and cannabis flowers obtained through private prescriptions.

«I don't spend £600 on flowers and CBD oil to get high,» she told Cannabis Health. «It’s a clinical need. It’s literally to relieve pain.»

Despite the recommendations of her medical specialists, her three attempts to obtain funding from the NHS were unsuccessful. One application was reportedly rejected due to a lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of cannabis for neuropathic pain and concerns regarding cost-effectiveness. More recently, the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust cited inadequate prescribing infrastructure and existing NHS guidelines.

Medical cannabis is legal, but access to it through the NHS remains limited

The United Kingdom legalizes medical cannabis in November 2018, authorizing medical specialists to prescribe cannabis-based products under specific circumstances. However, this legalization did not establish systematic reimbursement by the NHS.

While certain approved cannabis-based medications (Sativex, Epidyolex, Nabilone) may be prescribed for specific conditions, access to unapproved cannabis-based medications—particularly cannabis flowers—remains largely dependent on the private sector, which could reach 140,000 patients this year.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend cannabis-based medications for chronic or neuropathic pain, citing a lack of evidence of their clinical benefit and concerns about their cost-effectiveness.

Patients may, however, apply for exceptional funding through an individual funding request (IFR), provided that their physician demonstrates the existence of exceptional circumstances and provides a sufficiently strong clinical justification.

The extent of access funded by public funds remains extremely limited.

On September 9, 2026, the British government confirmed in a parliamentary response that the figures regarding NHS prescriptions of unapproved cannabis-based medications had not been disclosed because they involved fewer than five patients.

A collaborative campaign to identify barriers to treatment

Ms. Smith has now created a Facebook group, Medical Cannabis – Access Denied by the NHS, inviting patients and their representatives to compile a list of rejected funding requests. Rather than demanding universal reimbursement, she wants to understand why patients whose specialists support cannabis treatment continue to face denials.

«What do they have in common? Where is the sticking point?» she asked.

By comparing individual experiences, the campaign hopes to identify recurring administrative, clinical, or financial barriers within the NHS. Smith plans to present these findings to his member of Parliament, which could bring the issue before Parliament.

Patients who can afford private prescriptions have access to treatments that others, facing comparable medical conditions, may find financially out of reach. For Ms. Smith, the central question is whether the current funding framework adequately addresses patients’ unmet clinical needs after conventional therapies have failed.