I TAKE WEED ARTHRITIS... MUST MAKE
SIR Patrick Stewart says cannabis is the only drug that can relieve him from the agony of arthritis – and wants GPS to be able to prescribe medical marijuana on the NHS.
The award-winning Star Trek actor called on the Government to relax current restrictions around the prescription of cannabis-based medicines, which supporters claim can help a range of problems including pain, anxiety, sleeplessness, symptoms of multiple sclerosis and epilepsy.
Government regulators say there have not been enough controlled trials to support the use of medicinal cannabis for many of these conditions.
Under existing rules introduced last November following a campaign by parents of children with severe epilepsy, specialists were allowed to prescribe medicinal cannabis to these patients.
However, since then only a handful of prescriptions have been made.
Experts say this is because specialists face almost insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles, including getting a senior medical countersignature on prescriptions and overcoming complex importation rules.
Sir Patrick, 79, whose long acting career has included leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the X-men film series, has been using medicinal cannabis to treat the arthritis in his hands after he was given a prescription by his doctor while living in California.
He said: “I have arthritis in both my hands and thumb joints and have been prescribed various drugs, including a cream which didn’t do much.
“The moment I started using cannabis-based cream it worked and I could feel an immediate reduction in discomfort.
“It meant I could grip my hands and hook my thumb around the steering wheel of a car again. I also take a chewy (cannabis pill) at bedtime and this has really helped, too.
“People think I must be getting high all the time. Nothing is further from the truth.”
Sir Patrick, OBE, who believes he inherited the painful condition from his mother, said: ‘I’ve had access to medical cannabis in the USA for many months and it has been of great benefit. It’s hugely concerning to me that access is still so difficult in the UK, despite its legalisation a year ago.
“It seems perverse that opioid