It’s been reported cannabis oil will be available on prescription to people with chronic pain across the UK within a month.
At the minute cannabis-derived medicines are only prescribed in exceptional circumstances, when permission is granted by a panel of medical experts, but it’s thought the Home Office is set to change the rules.
The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has put forward a request to ‘reschedule’ cannabis-derived medicines in parliament.
An announcement is expected to be made within the next two weeks detailing whether or not cannabis will be available on prescription in the immediate future.
If the move goes ahead then there’ll be specialist doctors who’ll prescribe cannabis medicines for people suffering with chronic pain, epilepsy, nausea as a result of chemotherapy, and Multiple Sclerosis, (MS).
Genevieve Edwards, from the MS Society, told the Sunday Telegraph:
This is very encouraging progress for thousands of people with MS who have been forced to choose between living with relentless pain and muscle spasm or breaking the law.
It comes after Canada’s parliament passed a law legalising the recreational use of marijuana on June 19, in a 52-29 vote in the Senate. It’s likely, by mid-September, Canadians will be able to buy cannabis and cannabis oil grown by licensed producers at numerous retail locations.
Canadians across the country will also be able to order the drug online from federally licensed producers. They can even grow up to four plants at home, BBC News reports.
Adults (those aged 18 and over, 19 in some provinces) will be able to hold up to 30 grams of dried cannabis in public.
Cannabis-infused foods will not be readily available for purchase come September but will be within a year of the bill coming into action. The delay is meant to give the government time to set out regulations specific to those products.
The minimum legal age to buy and consume marijuana has been set federally at 18. However, some provinces have chosen to set it at 19.
It’ll be illegal to; possess more than 30 grams, or an ounce, of cannabis in public, grow more than four plants per household, and to buy from an unlicensed dealer.
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