REPORT
Medical cannabis patients report being left without medication, as supply issues become a “major concern” for the UK sector, reports Sarah Sinclair. 59
A surge in demand for cannabis medicines, combined with the increased red-tape facing importers has led to patients experiencing severe delays to their prescriptions and even running out of medication entirely. One patient, Sam*, said she had been without medication for 10 days after her prescription didn’t show up. In February, the pharmacy had been unable to fulfil her regular prescription and arranged for a replacement product containing lower levels of THC. The next month’s prescription, which was due to be delivered on 16 March, never arrived and Sam claimed that she struggled to make contact with anyone at the dispensary to find out why. When Cannabis Health spoke to her on 25 March she had still not received it, but was expecting a delivery the next day. “My anxiety is through the roof,” said Sam, who is prescribed cannabis for PTSD, and struggles with anxiety and depression, as well as living with symptoms of systemic lupus, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. “I had managed to control it for many months with cannabis, but I need the continuity. All of the strides that I had made with my mental health have taken a backward step.” She continued: “I’m not sleeping any more, my nightmares are back and I’m struggling to regulate my emotions. “All of my physical issues are getting worse again because cannabis is a big help with the inflammation. But my main concern is my mental health, physically I can be falling apart, but if my mental health isn’t right, what’s the point?”
The stress and uncertainty around what was going on with her prescription made matters worse for Sam. “These are things I can’t control. I can’t get any communication from anyone at the clinic and I still haven’t gotten any information out of [the dispensary] whatsoever,” she said. “I do feel hugely let down by the system. This is something that should be helping me and instead it has created huge amounts of anxiety. “I came off antidepressants because I was able to live a normal life thanks to cannabis but I can’t imagine that the NHS would ever leave someone without mental health medicine.” As the awareness of medical cannabis grows and demand increases, Sam believes that the current system is unable to cope and the care patients are receiving is suffering as a result. “I don’t think that the process was fully thought through [when the law changed],” she added. “It seems like more people are aware of cannabis medicines now and are seeking them out, but unfortunately that means my care is decreasing. “Resolving the supply chain and ensuring that there are checks are in place to ensure that the patient isn’t being left without is hugely important.” Brexit blockades Hannah Deacon, co-founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and cannabis consultancy firm Maple Tree, whose son Alfie Dingley relies on a prescription