What is it about?
The law changed in 2018 to legalise cannabis prescribing in the UK. Cannabis remains otherwise criminalised in the UK. This study explores what life is like for people prescribed cannabis in this policy context. Despite experiencing life-enhancing benefits from cannabis, UK patients face barriers to access, creating health inequalities. They also experience stigma, arising from the wider prohibition context.
Featured Image
Photo by Budding . on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Five years on from the legalisation of cannabis prescribing in the UK, fewer than five people have received a prescription on the NHS. This results in health inequalities, since legal routes are only available to those who can afford private clinics. People with a prescription are facing daily challenges and stigma resulting from a lack of awareness of the law, and because of the wider context in which cannabis remains criminalised.
Perspectives
My experience of supporting a family member with a cannabis prescription for a chronic illness, and my role as a researcher/educator, inspired me to investigate this topic. I teamed up with Helen who specialises in drug policy. Together, we conducted the first qualitative sociological study in the UK with cannabis patients.
Dr Lindsey Metcalf McGrath
Liverpool John Moores University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: “It's a big added stress on top of being so ill”: The challenges facing people prescribed cannabis in the UK, International Journal of Drug Policy, December 2023, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104220.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
