UK medical cannabis program registers no new patients in 18 months

18 months after legalization of medical cannabis in the UK, The English health system has not recorded any prescriptions for full-spectrum cannabis oil for medical use.

Despite the legality of the drug and the import options, British doctors face many obstacles in prescribing cannabis-based treatments.

Only two children suffering from epilepsy refractory to the usual treatments are temporarily authorized to import cannabis oil from the Netherlands. Alfie Dingley and Sophia Gibson, came close to losing their lives for lack of treatment, sparking a massive mobilization to enable them to receive their treatment legally.

Wealthier patients can pay for private prescriptions, around £2,000 a month, and access cannabis-based treatments. At least 313 private prescriptions have been issued.

«Government legislation on medical cannabis has been a disaster,» said declared Hannah Deacon, Alfie's mother, who used to have up to 500 fatal seizures a month, but can now ride her bike and go to school, with her seizures greatly reduced.

«If you look at the children who have received it via private prescriptions, they are doing extremely well. It's just terribly cruel and incredibly unfair that some children can benefit and others can't.»

Hannah Deacon has written to every member of the cabinet expressing the «abject discouragement» parents feel due to the lack of’access to therapeutic cannabis. So far, she has received only one response from Foreign Minister Dominic Raab, who, in a letter addressed to her as «Bridget» began by saying that the cannabis use was detrimental to mental health and physical.