Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PROJECT AIMS TO MAKE CANNABIS FREE ON THE NHS
1,400 take medicinal drug... life improves ‘by 50%’
EXCLUSIVE BY DANIEL O’MAHONY
HUNDREDS of people have been prescribed medical cannabis under a pioneering scheme in a bid to make it more available on the NHS.
The Twenty21 project subsidises costly cannabis treatments for conditions like pain, anxiety, epilepsy and neurological issues.
It aims to create the largest body of evidence for medical cannabis in Europe and convince lawmakers and health bosses to offer it on the NHS.
Since January more than 1,400 have signed up to the scheme run by the charity Drug Science.
Founder and chairman Prof David Nutt, a former government drugs tsar, said preliminary results made him feel “vindicated” about cannabis’s effectiveness.
But even with subsidies – paid for by cannabis growers – many patients stump up a typical £150 prescription charge each month to treat their condition.
Jim Finch, 32, needs three prescriptions a month and had to sell his house to fund treatment. He developed severe neurological issues and Tourette syndrome after a crash in 2018.
He said of medical cannabis: “It gives me the ability to live, laugh and love. They are such basic things that we take for granted. But when you can’t walk or talk, or you’re just violently shaking, muscles spasming in ways you didn’t think possible, it’s no life... it’s given me life.”
Cannabis-based medicines including oils, flowers and vape products were legalised in the UK in 2018. But these can only be prescribed by a specialist doctor, not GPs, and only three NHS prescriptions have been issued.
According to the NHS, cannabis was “likely to benefit a very small number of patients”.
It works and reduces symptoms & improves wellbeing and it’s safe DAVID NUTT PROFESSOR AND FORMER DRUGS TSAR
BALANCED
Prof Nutt hopes data will allay misgivings and fears – and claims thousands of pounds can be saved if it reduces hospitalisations.
He added: “It works and reduces symptoms and improves wellbeing. And it is safe. You’re not seeing psychosis in any of our people. They’re not using skunk, they’re not using spice. They’re using a regulated, balanced mixture of CBD and THC.”
Preliminary results from Project Twenty21 claimed quality of life had improved by 50%.
But Prof Nutt – sacked as a drug tsar in 2009 after claiming horse riding was more dangerous than ecstasy – claimed doctors and the NHS “systematically block” efforts to offer cannabis treatments.
The Department of Health said: “Licensed cannabis-based medicines are funded by the NHS where there is clear evidence of... quality, safety and effectiveness.”