Thank you very much for your email about this vital issue. There was an excellent debate on Monday led by my colleague, Mike Penning, who moved the Urgent Question. He assures me that his APPG on Medical Cannabis under Prescription will continue to do all they can on behalf of all those who are affected to try to ensure that they get the prescriptions and drugs they need.
In November last year, the law was changed to ensure that doctors on the specialist register of the General Medical Council can legally prescribe cannabis-based products for medicinal use in the UK. However, it is right that we put these decisions in the hands of clinicians because they are the ones with the best knowledge of all the treatments available for conditions in which they specialise.
Naturally, any consultant prescribing a specific drug or treatment will want to know that it fulfils two criteria: the first is that it is safe to use and the second that it is proven to be effective. As a doctor myself, I entirely understand why anyone would be reticent about prescribing without this knowledge. The Secretary of State has been clear that whether to prescribe must remain a clinical decision, to be made with patients and their families, taking into account the best available international clinical evidence. The Government continues to assess the medical evidence in an objective way and continuously looks at the experience of those in other countries. I will continue to press my colleagues in Cabinet on this vital issue.
The following is the link to the full debate https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2019-05-20/debates/8231D857-B2DF-47EA-86F4-E7CF7068A6CE/MedicalCannabisUnderPrescription