A tiny fraction of the UK population is being prescribed medical cannabis in varying formulations and strengths for a range of conditions under the supervision of specialist doctors.
Despite expert scientists publishing more than 53,000 peer-reviewed studies on the medical benefits of cannabis, tabloid newspapers are still churning out nonsensical articles demonising patients.
Amid an epidemic of shit journalism from publications like the Daily Mail, a leafie investigation has found that specialist pharmacies are following strident regulations, rules and guidelines to prescribe a reasonable number of products with medically appropriate names such as OST-4 LVL T8:C10.
People on low income who are supported by the state due to 14 years of Conservative austerity – a policy supported by shitehawk tabloid rags – are rightly supported with access to their medicine. Clinics and pharmacies offer discounts of up to 20% – however, many patients still struggle to afford cannabis based medicines, often being forced to choose between their health and basic essentials like heating or food.
The whole process is, shockingly, perfectly legal, thanks to legitimate changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act
NHS prescriptions are practically non-existent despite evidence that cannabis is an effective medication for countless conditions, but dozens of clinics are filling the gap with private healthcare, providing a drug that could, paradoxically, save the NHS billions per year.
Users sourcing their cannabis from the illicit market are even encouraged to contact clinics to see if their years of self-medicating and experience finding an alternative to powerful pharmaceutical drugs could be legitimised with a legal prescription instead of facing the risk of prison.
The whole process is, shockingly, perfectly legal, thanks to legitimate changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act.
The minor rise in medical cannabis prescriptions handed out in the past few years pales in significance compared to other countries that have legalised medical cannabis access. Countries such as Germany and Australia have millions of patients, with no evidence to suggest that wider access to cannabis is contributing to an increase in drug-induced mental health problems and psychosis.
- Here’s a picture of a scruffy benefit scrounger smoking cannabis to really boil our readers’ piss, even though no cannabis is prescribed to be smoked.
The legalisation of medical cannabis – with police only just being told not to arrest people for cannabis possession if there are ‘justifiable grounds’ for believing it could be for medical use SEVEN years after reform – has raised concerns that companies are acting well within the law creating a two tier healthcare system that legalises use of cannabis for medical reasons, but only if you can afford to do so.
Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act shows there were 88,214 unlicensed cannabis products prescribed privately in the first two months of 2025, the most recent data available.
In 2024, there were 659,293 unlicensed cannabis products prescribed – equivalent to almost ten tons of weed – up from 282,920 in 2023, data from the NHS Business Services Authority shows.
Sir Robin Murray, professor of psychiatric research at King’s College London, spouted some nonsense that the Daily Mail cherry-picked to misrepresent the truth that we’re not going to justify with a re-print.
Data from one of the largest private clinics, Mamedica, shows that 50.5 per cent of its more than 12,000 patients in the UK are prescribed cannabis for mental health conditions. If this is consistent across the industry, tens of thousands are being prescribed medical cannabis for a mental health condition instead of pharmaceutical drugs with far worse side effects than cannabis.
Some private clinics offer free consultations and cut-price medicine to people who have no choice but to claim benefits, much to the outrage of Daily Mail readers.
Tory health spokesman Stuart Andrew last night called on the Government to act on the law his party enacted.
Medical cannabis was legalised in 2018 after a campaign to make it available to children with severe epilepsy. Licensed products – which do not contain the whole plant – can be prescribed on the NHS for severe epilepsy, nausea from chemotherapy, or for muscle spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.
But private clinics can legally prescribe unlicensed products, because the NHS refuses to do so.
Dozens of specialist pharmacies offer products with a THC (the psychoactive ingredient) content ranging from 8% to more than 30%, because every person’s circumstances are different and a range of strengths is needed to treat individual conditions. Shockingly, some medical cannabis only contains CBD and no THC at all.
Freedom of Information data shows that the volume prescribed increased from 2.7million grams in 2022 to 9.8million grams in 2024.
It also shows there has been a slight change in the number of people being prescribed higher-potency cannabis as the market matures and choice improves. The most popular potency in 2022 was between 18 and 22 per cent THC, but in the first two months of 2025, products above 22 per cent made up almost half of prescriptions, which is broadly meaningless.
Mamedica said it is prescribed based on a “strictly regulated clinical and legal framework”, with all prescriptions issued by a registered doctor in accordance with Home Office, MHRA and CQC requirements, just like every other clinic in the UK. A spokesman said, “prescribing takes place on a named-patient basis by specialist clinicians and operates under established medicines law and regulatory oversight, oh and thanks for the free publicity!”
A government spokesman said, “Here is some vague statement that passes any responsibility on to someone else and doesn’t mean anything.”
“We’re also looking at private prescribing to ensure patients have access to high-quality medicines through all legal routes,” they added, “so expect more legal cannabis users in the future. By the way, didn’t the Daily Mail support Hitler and the Nazis?”
If it wasn’t already clear, this article is a parody.
