NHS England Guidance on Medical Cannabis Use

NHS England, as part of today’s announcement on medical cannabis, commissioned two pieces of interim guidance by the medical profession on its use.  The Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Radiologists were tasked with looking at its application to medicine generally and the Faculty was pleased to be able to contribute to sections that commented on chronic pain.  You can find the guidance here.

You can find NHS England’s own guidance here and their information for patients here which states under its header on ‘long-term pain’: “There is some evidence medical cannabis can help certain types of pain, though this evidence is not yet strong enough to recommend it for pain relief.”

Other guidance to be aware of is the MHRA document "The supply of unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use in humans", available here.

NICE have been commissioned to lead an evidence-based review on medical cannabis and the Faculty will take an active role in this as a stakeholder.