Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will review the regulatory framework for prescribing cannabis-based medicinal products to allow GPs to prescribe those treatments.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
General practitioners (GPs) can only prescribe unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use if under the direction of a specialist.
These medicines are not first-line treatments and patients will be at a stage in their treatment pathway where they will be under the care of a specialist doctor. Whilst the evidence-base remains limited on the safety, quality, and efficacy of these products, it is right that the decision to prescribe remains essentially with specialist doctors. As with all laws, we will keep its impact under review.
Found: Medical Cannabis on or under Prescription
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the annual cost of policing cannabis-related offences.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
It is not possible from the available data to separate out the costs of policing these particular offences from other policing responsibilities, including in relation to other controlled substances.
Asked by: Chris Kane (Labour - Stirling and Strathallan)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS prescriptions for cannabis based products there have been in each year since 2018.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the total number of National Health Service prescriptions for licensed cannabis-based medicines, namely Nabilone, Sativex, and Epidyolex, dispensed in the community in England against an NHS prescription between January 2018 to September 2024:
Time period | Items |
2018 | 2,591 |
2019 | 2,636 |
2020 | 2,674 |
2021 | 2,973 |
2022 | 4,003 |
2023 | 5,192 |
2024 | 4,326 |
Total | 24,395 |
Source: NHS Business Services Authority
Note: data for 2024 is from January to September.
Data on unlicensed cannabis-based medicines is withheld in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulations, due to the number of items attributed being to fewer than five patients, and an enhanced risk of the release of patient identifiable information.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people who were convicted for simple cannabis possession were also convicted for another offence by the category of that other offence in each of the last five years.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Ministry of Justice publishes data on the total number of convictions for possession of cannabis on all-offence basis in the All-offence prosecutions and convictions data tool.
A breakdown on how many offenders convicted for possession of cannabis were also convicted for another offence, and where an offender has been convicted of multiple counts of possession of cannabis at the same time, will count each individual conviction. Therefore, the information requested, on a defendant basis has been provided in Table 1 and Table 2.
Jan. 14 2008
Source Page: Table showing the count of finished admission episodes with a primary or secondary cannabis-related diagnosis for all hospital providers within NHS London Strategic Health Authority of Treatment, for the years 1997/98 to 2003/04. 14 p.Found: Table showing the count of finished admission episodes with a primary or secondary cannabis-related diagnosis
Asked by: Laurence Turner (Labour - Birmingham Northfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of prescribing medical cannabis to treat Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend the use of any cannabis-based medicines to manage chronic or neuropathic pain in adults and that cannabidiol (CBD) only be offered as part of a clinical trial.
NICE recognises the lack of evidence to support the use of these medicines and recommends that further research is carried out on the clinical and cost effectiveness of CBD as an add-on treatment for adults with fibromyalgia or for persistent treatment resistant neuropathic pain.
The National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. As for all other medicines, it is the responsibility of the manufacturers to generate the evidence required for assessment by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NICE.
Asked by: Paul Foster (Labour - South Ribble)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken recent research on the use of medical cannabis for the treatment of (a) Dravet and (b) Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published technology appraisals recommending Epidyolex, a licensed form of cannabidiol extracted from cannabis, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsies, specifically Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex.
Deciding whether to prescribe an unlicensed cannabis-based medicine, a medicine that has not been assessed or approved by the medicines regulator, is a clinical decision, and the funding of medicines within the National Health Service is governed by well-established processes and evidence-based guidelines produced by the NICE. The NICE found that there is insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness to support a population-wide recommendation in relation to unlicensed cannabis-based medicines for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. The NICE also calls for further research.
Following the publication of the NICE’s guidance, NHS England and The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has agreed funding for two trials relating to the use of cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of difficult-to-treat epilepsies. These will be world-first trials and will be crucial in informing future NHS funding decisions. Due to commercial confidentiality, further information on the trials cannot be released at this time.
Where a treatment is not currently routinely funded by the NHS in England, an NHS clinician can, on behalf of their patient, make an application for funding in exceptional clinical circumstances. This is known as an Individual Funding Request (IFR). In making an application for an IFR, clinicians must demonstrate that the patient in question is clinically exceptional compared to the wider group of patients with the same condition, and is likely to derive greater benefit from the treatment. Each case is assessed on an individual basis, and is not a process the Government can seek to influence.
Until the evidence base improves, prescribers will remain reticent in prescribing, and no decision can be made by the NHS on routine funding. That is why the Government is committed to research and catalysing the generation of evidence to support use of these products.
Like any other area of medicine, manufacturers of these products must invest in research and clinical trials to ensure that cannabis-based medicines are proven both safe and effective before they can be considered for routine funding by the NHS. The NIHR remains open to receiving good quality proposals for research in this area as a priority, and stands ready to support researchers and manufacturers to develop applications.
Asked by: Paul Foster (Labour - South Ribble)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken recent research on the use of medical cannabis for the treatment of epilepsy.
Answered by Andrew Gwynne
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published technology appraisals recommending Epidyolex, a licensed form of cannabidiol extracted from cannabis, for the treatment of seizures associated with two rare forms of epilepsies, specifically Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and tuberous sclerosis complex.
Deciding whether to prescribe an unlicensed cannabis-based medicine, a medicine that has not been assessed or approved by the medicines regulator, is a clinical decision, and the funding of medicines within the National Health Service is governed by well-established processes and evidence-based guidelines produced by the NICE. The NICE found that there is insufficient evidence of safety and effectiveness to support a population-wide recommendation in relation to unlicensed cannabis-based medicines for severe treatment-resistant epilepsy. The NICE also calls for further research.
Following the publication of the NICE’s guidance, NHS England and The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has agreed funding for two trials relating to the use of cannabis-based medicines for the treatment of difficult-to-treat epilepsies. These will be world-first trials and will be crucial in informing future NHS funding decisions. Due to commercial confidentiality, further information on the trials cannot be released at this time.
Where a treatment is not currently routinely funded by the NHS in England, an NHS clinician can, on behalf of their patient, make an application for funding in exceptional clinical circumstances. This is known as an Individual Funding Request (IFR). In making an application for an IFR, clinicians must demonstrate that the patient in question is clinically exceptional compared to the wider group of patients with the same condition, and is likely to derive greater benefit from the treatment. Each case is assessed on an individual basis, and is not a process the Government can seek to influence.
Until the evidence base improves, prescribers will remain reticent in prescribing, and no decision can be made by the NHS on routine funding. That is why the Government is committed to research and catalysing the generation of evidence to support use of these products.
Like any other area of medicine, manufacturers of these products must invest in research and clinical trials to ensure that cannabis-based medicines are proven both safe and effective before they can be considered for routine funding by the NHS. The NIHR remains open to receiving good quality proposals for research in this area as a priority, and stands ready to support researchers and manufacturers to develop applications.
Reassess the classification of Cannabis and decriminalize it.
- 5,438 Signatures
(Estimated Final Signatures: 5,459 - 6 added in the past 24hrs)
We believe the Government should re-evaulate Cannabis' classification as a class B drug. We think that by legalising the drug in a controlled way across the country the tax could assist in paying off the country's debt and help repair the ongoing economic difficulties the UK faces.
Found: Reassess the classification of Cannabis and decriminalize it.