Advocates pushing for prescribing reform in Britain have pointed to Australia's regulatory framework as evidence that GPs should be permitted to prescribe medicinal cannabis to patients.
The Cannabis Industry Council (CIC) presented a report to MPs at the House of Commons this week detailing how Australia's medicinal cannabis prescribing model has delivered broad patient access to medication without compromising safety.
Although medicinal cannabis was legalised in the UK in 2018, prescriptions can only be issued by specialist doctors, and only to patients with qualifying conditions such as severe epilepsy, multiple sclerosis-related muscle stiffness, or nausea caused by chemotherapy.
The report, titled Why GPs should be able to prescribe cannabis medicines, follows the launch of the Protect our Patients campaign in May.
Australia, Germany and Denmark were each cited as countries where allowing GPs to prescribe has produced clear, widespread benefits.
Dr Sunil Arora, CIC co-chair of the prescription cannabis working group, wrote in the report that the existing UK system is letting patients down.
“Since the Government legalised medical cannabis in 2018, there have been around 1,000 patients annually receiving prescriptions on the NHS, and 20,000 private patients each year. All of these prescriptions are handled by specialist medical practitioners,” he wrote.
“However, this current model where only consultants can prescribe is simply not working in the interests of the majority of patients.
“Despite medical cannabis being legal for five years, there are 1.8 million people in the UK accessing the illicit cannabis market for medical reasons. While there are a number of factors causing this situation, a key reason is due to general medical practitioners (GPs) not being allowed to prescribe.”
The CIC, together with the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society (MCCS), advocacy group Volteface, and Maple Tree Consultants, is pressing the government to amend the Misuse of Drugs Regulations. Campaigning MP Crispin Blunt tabled a motion in parliament earlier this month in support of the change.
Arora added: “Real world evidence and clinical trials data shows the efficacy and effectiveness of medical cannabis for managing an array of conditions, as well as improving patient quality of life.
“Allowing GPs to prescribe medical cannabis would therefore be a meaningful, yet uncontroversial change, which would help expand patient access and improve outcomes.”