A survey has revealed that 84% of UK doctors would be willing to prescribe medical cannabis to manage chronic pain if it were part of the NHS toolkit.
The research, commissioned by medical cannabis clinic Alternaleaf, comes as experts warn that the number of chronic pain patients in the UK is expected to rise by 1.9 million by 2040. The survey also found that 78% of doctors believe opioids are currently prescribed too frequently for pain relief in the UK, with one in three (29%) concerned that the NHS is not prepared for the projected increase in chronic pain patients.
The UK remains one of the largest consumers of prescription opioids per 1,000 inhabitants, surpassing countries like the US, Germany, and Canada. Over one million people in the UK are currently on prescription opioids, with more than 50,000 taking them for six months or longer, at an estimated annual cost of £500 million to the NHS.
Although medical cannabis was legalised in 2018, it is only available on the NHS for a limited range of conditions, notably excluding chronic pain. This has led thousands of UK chronic pain patients to seek treatment through private clinics, where specialists routinely prescribe it for conditions such as fibromyalgia and arthritis.
“Despite applaudable efforts to bring the numbers of opioid prescriptions down, it’s still the go-to treatment for chronic pain in many cases. Greater awareness of medical cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain could help safely treat millions of patients while reducing the UK’s dependency on opioids,” said Dr Gerard Sinovich, a pain specialist who prescribes medical cannabis.
A separate 2024 poll found that only 53% of the UK population knew that medical cannabis was legal. Reports of patients having their medication wrongfully confiscated in police raids further underscore the lack of education about medical cannabis in the public sector.
Retired doctor Franni Szekely, 68, from Worthing, East Sussex, shared her experience of switching to medical cannabis after suffering debilitating side effects from conventional pain medications prescribed for her sciatica and osteoarthritis.
“I was prescribed Tramadol which gave me terrifying hallucinations,” she said. “And Gabapentin made me feel drowsy and confused but I had very few options. I couldn’t sit for longer than thirty minutes without being in excruciating pain.”
Since beginning medical cannabis treatment in February 2023, Szekely reported significant improvements. “The first thing that struck me as soon as I started medical cannabis treatment was how instant the pain relief was. I could sleep properly for the first time in forever and sit comfortably for longer than 30 minutes, which meant we could go on holiday again.”
Franni practised medicine for two decades before moving to medical law. Reflecting on the painkillers she was offered, Franni notes the change in attitudes towards strong painkillers like opioids. “When I was practising, opioids were a last resort because of how addictive and harmful they are. I’m surprised not more people know about the use of cannabis for medicinal reasons”.
The full survey findings, due to be published in a white paper on Chronic Pain and Medical Cannabis, will highlight the role that greater awareness of medical cannabis as a treatment for chronic pain could have in treating UK patients. A Westminster Hall debate on the accessibility of medical cannabis will take place on 30th January at 13:30.
