How allowing GPs to prescribe cannabis could ease the burden on NHS

Allowing GPs to prescribe cannabis would ease the burden on the NHS and drive down waiting lists, says a new industry report. 

A new report from the Cannabis Industry Council (CIC) highlights how giving GPs the same rights to prescribe as specialist consultants would help reduce waiting times and ease the burden of long-term health conditions on the NHS.

The report, published this week , as part of the CIC’s Protect our Patients campaign, evaluates the current state of healthcare in the UK, where NHS waiting lists have now reached 7.4 million.

With one in three adults in the UK living with some form of chronic pain, those with long term health conditions are thought to make up a significant number of those waiting for treatment. 

Medicinal cannabis, which has been legal to prescribe for any condition since November 2018, is most commonly prescribed in the private sector to treat the symptoms of chronic pain.

There is also a growing evidence base to suggest cannabis may help patients reduce their use of opioids and other prescription medications. 

According to the report, 50 million opioid prescriptions were written in the UK in 2020, a 35% increase over the last 10 years, with opioid-related overdoses and deaths also having increased appreciably in recent years, placing a significant financial burden on the NHS.

The authors of the report argue that making cannabis more easily accessible on prescription through allowing GPs to prescribe, could help tackle these issues, while also reducing levels of crime. 

In 2019, a survey in England and Wales found that 1.4 million people were using unregulated, illegal cannabis to treat the symptoms of chronic health conditions. A recent YouGov poll suggests this may have risen to 1.8 million, despite it being legal to prescribe for almost five years. 

Under UK law a prescription for cannabis must be initiated by a specialist consultant on the General Medical Council (GMC) register. GPs can only support prescribing under what is known as a shared-care agreement. 

With over 36,000 practising GPs in the UK, experts believe that allowing them to initiate prescriptions would open up access to medicinal cannabis for many more patients across the country.

Learning from international examples 

The report also looks at countries such as Australia, Germany and Denmark, which have all allowed GPs to prescribe to their patients, and have seen much higher take up of medical cannabis prescriptions.

These three jurisdictions have also seen far more women and the elderly being prescribed medical cannabis than the UK, a sign that stigma associated with the medicine has been significantly reduced, as well as reflecting that more women than men typically have chronic pain.

‘Modest but transformative proposals’

The report was launched during an event in Parliament on Monday 17 July, as part of the Protect our Patients campaign.

The campaign is calling on policymakers to make a simple amendment to section 4 of the 2018 Misuse of Drugs Regulations to state ‘specialist or general medical practitioner’, which would allow GPs to prescribe. 

Dr Sunil Arora, Co-Chair of the CIC Prescription Cannabis Working Group, said: “The current model where only consultants can prescribe medical cannabis is simply not working in the interests of the majority of patients or society at large. Allowing GPs to prescribe would expand patient access, reduce NHS waiting lists, and help cut crime.

“The Cannabis Industry Council urges regulators and policymakers to support these modest, but transformative proposals to allow GPs to prescribe to their patients.”

An ‘early day motion’ (EDM) calling for the change in policy has also been tabled in Parliament. Those in the industry are urged to write to their MP and ask them to show support by signing the EDM.

You can identify and contact your local MP here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP

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