To mark Tourette’s Awareness Month medical cannabis patient and Project Twenty21 participant, Jim Finch, and his prescribing consultant, Dr Tahzid Ahsan, share their journey with the ‘life-changing’ treatment.
In 2018, Jim Finch was involved in a serious car accident which left him severely injured and battling a number of complex neurological conditions.
Overnight he went from being a young, fit and healthy dad to suffering constant motor and vocal tics and coprolalia, as a result of his Tourette’s syndrome.
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition affecting over 300,000 adults and children in the UK.
The condition causes patients to suffer involuntary and uncontrollable sounds and movements, known as tics. In many cases, these are not harmful to the person’s overall health, but severe Tourette’s can still have a huge impact on their quality of life.
Common treatment options include behavioural therapies such as Habit Reversal Therapy (HRT) and Comprehensive Behavioural Intervention Therapy (CBIT), as well as a range of psychiatric drugs.
Although none of these have been developed specifically for Tourette’s and the focus is on reducing or controlling the tics through behavioural, rather than medicinal, intervention.
Jim Finch developed Tourette’s after a serious car accident
Jim was prescribed dozens of pharmaceuticals to manage his symptoms, none of which were able to control his tics and instead plagued him with more side effects. His hair fell out, he developed stomach issues and asthma and was too drowsy to play with his son.
Then someone sent him a YouTube video of a Tourette’s patient whose tics were controlled by consuming cannabis and he began his own research.
“I typed in Tourette’s and cannabis on YouTube and I saw somebody who had constant tics and fits like me, who used cannabis and it stopped them,” says Jim.
“At that point I started looking into the research that has been done in Germany and Canada.”
A number of papers have been published with encouraging results around the treatment of Tourette’s with medical cannabis.
One study from 2017 reported that 18 out of the 19 participants were “much improved”, and their tics scores decreased by 60 percent, while a six-week randomised control trial from 2003 concluded that THC is “effective and safe” in the treatment of tics.
Jim, now 32, joined Drug Science’s Project Twenty21 in January, after a period of self-medicating and finding that cannabis was helpful for his symptoms.
“I’ve gone to three different doctors now who have all managed to prescribe me,” he says.
“Since I’ve had a prescription for cannabis it’s changed my life, it doesn’t stop my tics completely but they are not all-consuming anymore.
“I’ve gone from strength to strength not having to worry about breaking the law to medicate. It’s a bizarre situation that patients have found themselves in, when there’s probably no doctor in the country that would see the effects of me taking cannabis and think I shouldn’t have access to it.”
Tourette’s is one of the seven conditions covered by Project Twenty21, which range from pain and MS to anxiety, PTSD and epilepsy, although the project hopes to expand to include more conditions in the future.
There are currently only a small number of patients with the condition enrolled in the study – out of almost 1,000 patients, the vast majority of which are diagnosed with chronic pain or anxiety-related conditions – but Drug Science is keen to encourage other Tourette’s patients to come forward and see if medical cannabis could work for them.
Jim is currently on a combination of four different products, after several months of working closely with his doctors to find the right dosage and strains.
He was the first patient with Tourette’s that his current consultant Dr Tahzid Ahsan had treated since he joined Project Twenty21 in November last year.
Dr Tahzid Ahsan is a prescriber on Project Twenty21
“I didn’t know a lot about the condition, but Mr Finch had done a lot of research and I was very much led by him,” says Dr Ahsan, a consultant psychiatrist in the NHS, who has now prescribed cannabis medicines privately to hundreds of patients with mental health conditions, ranging from anxiety, depression and insomnia to complex PTSD.
“I started with the same as I would prescribe to patients with anxiety or depression and went from there.
“Mr Finch was the one who worked out what he needed and we gradually tailored it to his needs.
Dr Ahsan has now worked with a number of other patients with a diagnosis of Tourette’s after seeing how cannabis medicines were transformative for Jim.
“I was a little bit reluctant to prescribe indica throughout the day, but seeing the difference it makes to Mr Finch has given me the confidence to do that with other patients,” he adds.
Jim finds that heavy indica strains are more effective at managing his symptoms.
He experiences some mild side-effects, such as drowsiness and having to take a short nap in the afternoon and finds he gets hungry more often, but says: “It’s nothing in comparison to having tics all day or the side-effects I experienced from pharmaceuticals.”
To help raise awareness of medical cannabis, Jim has been sharing his journey on YouTube and social media, where his videos – which show the instantaneous effects of cannabis on his tics – have been known to go viral.
“I was suffering before Project Twenty21,” he says.
“It’s uncomfortable watching the earlier videos of me, because that’s my life if I don’t medicate.
“My son has witnessed me have so many fits and seizures and he’s only three, he shouldn’t have seen that.”
Jim is using his platform to educate people and help other patients access medical cannabis.
“I know the power cannabis medicines can have and I feel compelled to make sure others are aware that it is an option,” he says.
“We’re in an age now where information can be shared, and the truth needs to be out there.
“The more people’s lives it changes, the better the evidence will be and the more stigma will get broken down, the better the conversation and the further the industry grows.”
Since joining Project Twenty21 Dr Ahsan has also experienced a shift in perspective, and says seeing the transformation in patients like Jim has been an “eye-opener”.
“I went into this very naive,” he admits.
“For the last 20 years I’ve been taught that THC is bad, there has been a stigma attached to cannabis, but working with patients like Mr Finch I’m moving in the other direction.”
Dr Ahsan continues: “In traditional Western medicine everyone with a mental illness has a label, and as doctors, we prescribe pills which may or may not make them better.
“Medical cannabis doesn’t assume there is anything wrong with you, it doesn’t try to correct anything, it actually enhances you and helps you to cope with everyday life.”
He adds: “The feedback I’m getting from patients is incredible, people say it has transformed their lives.
“That mentality has been a breath of fresh air, it’s actually helped me to grow as a doctor.”
Sarah Sinclair is an award-winning freelance journalist covering health, drug policy and social affairs. She is one of the few UK reporters specialising in medical cannabis policy and as the former editor of Cannabis Health has covered developments in the European cannabis sector extensively, with a focus on patients and consumers.
She continues to report on cannabis-related health and policy for Forbes, Cannabis Health and Business of Cannabis and has written for The i Paper, Byline Times, The Lead, Positive News, Leafie & others.
Sarah has an NCTJ accreditation and an MA in Journalism from the University of Sunderland and has completed additional specialist training through the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society in the UK. She has spoken at leading industry events such as Cannabis Europa.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__cfduid
1 month
The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information.
__hssrc
session
This cookie is set by Hubspot. According to their documentation, whenever HubSpot changes the session cookie, this cookie is also set to determine if the visitor has restarted their browser. If this cookie does not exist when HubSpot manages cookies, it is considered a new session.
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement
1 year
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__hssc
30 minutes
This cookie is set by HubSpot. The purpose of the cookie is to keep track of sessions. This is used to determine if HubSpot should increment the session number and timestamps in the __hstc cookie. It contains the domain, viewCount (increments each pageView in a session), and session start timestamp.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie
Duration
Description
_gat
1 minute
This cookies is installed by Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate to limit the colllection of data on high traffic sites.
ac_enable_tracking
1 month
This cookie is set by the Active Campaign. This cookie is used to keep track of the site usage.
YSC
session
This cookies is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__hstc
1 year 24 days
This cookie is set by Hubspot and is used for tracking visitors. It contains the domain, utk, initial timestamp (first visit), last timestamp (last visit), current timestamp (this visit), and session number (increments for each subsequent session).
_ga
2 years
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gid
1 day
This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form.
hubspotutk
1 year 24 days
This cookie is used by HubSpot to keep track of the visitors to the website. This cookie is passed to Hubspot on form submission and used when deduplicating contacts.
iutk
5 months 27 days
This cookie is used by Issuu analytic system. The cookies is used to gather information regarding visitor activity on Issuu products.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie
Duration
Description
IDE
1 year 24 days
Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
mc
1 year 1 month
This cookie is associated with Quantserve to track anonymously how a user interact with the website.
test_cookie
15 minutes
This cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
5 months 27 days
This cookie is set by Youtube. Used to track the information of the embedded YouTube videos on a website.
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
Cookie
Duration
Description
__smSessionId
9 hours
No description
__smVID
1 month
This cookie is set by Sumo. The purpose of the cookie is not yet known.
CONSENT
16 years 8 months 13 days 11 hours
No description
lfuuid
9 years 9 months 13 days 11 hours
Third party (Lead Forensics) cookie which enables us to track visitor behaviour on our site. Tracking is performed anonymously until a user identifies themselves by submitting a form.