Between 60,000 and 70,000 Brits are currently treating their conditions with legal medical cannabis. Across the country, thousands of people are seeing life changing benefits with cannabis alleviating many different symptoms. Yet, in comparison to global markets, the UK has been slow to expand. In Germany, some 900,000 patients are benefitting from therapeutic effects of cannabis and there are millions more in the USA. Why the difference?
This article will look the anecdotal and scientific evidence for medical cannabis efficacy in various fields of treatment and the patient outcomes it is delivering right now, the economic benefits wider market access could bring and where the roadblocks to expansion currently stand.
It Is Provably Helping People Every Day
Aside from any other considerations about medical cannabis, remember this – it is certifiably helping thousands of Brits manage all sorts of sometimes debilitating conditions every single day. There are patient testimonials all over the industry, certifying the sometimes life-changing difference medical cannabis can make when other treatments have failed.
Planning medical cannabis treatment via a Care Quality Commission-regulated clinic will also always be medically superior than the black market. For example, clinicians can break down the differences of indica vs sativa cannabis strains with patients and ensure exact strains or forms of medicine are prescribed with the patients’ needs at the forefront.
Medical cannabis has increasing patient-reported and scientific evidence as a treatment for:
- Chronic pain
- Neuropathy (nerve pain)
- Sleep disorders like insomnia
- Appetite issues
- Depression, anxiety and PTSD
- Convulsant and spasticity disorders like epilepsy and multiple sclerosis
The science also backs this view. For example, one meta study (a study of the results of other studies) concluded that medical cannabis may be just as effective and have less side effects than long-term opioid use for managing chronic pain.
It Could be a Huge Boost for the Economy
The UK’s medical cannabis sector is estimated to be worth some £500 million in 2025, but projections suggest it could be worth billions if the market is allowed to open up.
In Germany, around 1.5% of the population have benefitted from legal medical weed and in the USA that number is almost 2%. In the UK, it’s just 0.1%. That suggest a lot of of potential patients, who are either on the illegal black market or simply unaware of how medical cannabis could benefit them.
Across the UK, police spend thousands of hours of their time shutting down illicit black market cannabis grows. If the legal, clinically controlled medical market could expand and take genuine medical patients away from self medicating with unreliable street weed then not only will the taxpayer benefit from UK-based growth but less money will be spent on combatting the black market.
The UK is Already Primed for the Growth of the Market
Then there is also cannabis-adjacent businesses that could boom in the UK. Innovations from top UK-based clinics are already setting technological and patient care standards across Europe, and many thousands of people are currently employed in the sector.
The UK is the largest grower of medical weed in Europe, and one the biggest in the world. But barely any of that goes to domestic patients. The majority of it was grown for cannabis-derived pharmaceutical medicines that have seen a tank in demand since Germany fully legalised recreational and medical weed – and it became clear the NHS wasn’t ready to prescribe them in mass numbers.
In fact, several million tonnes of medical grade cannabis sit in warehouses across the UK, right now. If even some of this stock and/or the ongoing supply can be converted for domestic use, the economic impact would be considerable.
How the Challenges Could be Navigated Successfully
One great success story of medical cannabis in recent years is that of two children whose cases were influential in the campaign for medical legalisation in 2018 – Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley.
Both had incurable and severe epilepsy, before their parents found that cannabis oil was a life changer for them. The parents claimed their children’s seizures reduced dramatically in number and intensity almost overnight, after starting treatment with illicit cannabis oil. This led their parents to become key campaigners for a change in the law.
The public pressure over these two cases and others, as well as increased scientific evidence for medical cannabis’ anti-seizure potential led to the landmark 2018 decision to legalise it.
The NHS can now prescribe cannabis-based medications in such cases, which is it has done – but only on a couple of occasions. Although medical cannabis is now fully legal, the vast majority of patients turn to private clinics instead.
A great medical cannabis clinic takes patients through every step of the process, from initial consultation and prescription to delivery and follow up care. A medical cannabis treatment plan will be tailored to your needs and condition, across a variety of forms of medicine.
These success stories show that with a change in public opinion and the right use of democratic influence, the UK has adapted to the increasing evidence of medical cannabis. Hopefully, the sector can blossom and grow further with more patients accessing what is increasingly looking like an effective natural medication.
