Cannabis to be recognised as prescription drug

Specialist clinicians will be able to prescribe cannabis-derived medicinal products by the autumn, Home Secretary Sajid Javid has announced.

Mr Javid decided to reschedule these products in the wake of high profile cases of children with epilepsy, whose seizures could only be kept under control with cannabis products but whose parents faced difficulties and delays in obtaining the necessary special licence to use the drug, and had products confiscated if they attempted to bring them in from abroad.

After receiving advice from experts in a review commissioned in June, the Home Secretary has made a move that will allow senior clinicians to prescribe the medicines to patients with an exceptional clinical need.

The Department for Health & Social Care and the Medicines & Health Products Regulatory Agency will now develop a clear definition of what constitutes a cannabis-derived medicinal product so they can be rescheduled and prescribed. Only products meeting this definition will be rescheduled. Other forms of cannabis will be kept under strict controls and will not be available on prescription.

In the meantime, clinicians will still be able to apply to the independent expert panel on behalf of patients wishing to access these products. The Home Secretary also confirmed that all licence fees for applications made to the panel will be waived, and no fees will be charged in respect of applications which have already been granted.

Mr Javid accepted that the Government's previous stance was "not satisfactory", but emphasised that the change "is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use".

In the first part of the commissioned review, the Chief Medical Advisor, Professor Dame Sally Davies, concluded that there is evidence that medicinal cannabis has therapeutic benefits. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs then considered the appropriate schedule for cannabis-derived medicinal products, based on the balance of harms and public health requirements, and recommended that such products meeting a clear definition of what constitutes a cannabis-derived medicinal product should be placed in sched 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. 

Additional frameworks and clinical guidelines will be developed to ensure that cannabis-derived medicinal products can be prescribed safely to patients but cannot be traded illicitly.