Sir Patrick Stewart urges UK Government to relax prescription guidelines for medical marijuana
Sir Patrick Stewart as Walter Blunt in Blunt Talk
Sir Patrick Stewart has called on the UK Government to relax current restrictions around the prescription of medical marijuana.
British tabloid Express.co.uk reported this weekend that Stewart was speaking ahead of the release of new guidance by UK government drug watchdog NICE. It’s not fully clear what event Express was referring to. But the comments they reported are consistent with prior remarks Stewart has made, going back to 2017, regarding his own use of medical marijuana to treat arthritis in his hands.
In the recent remarks, Stewart expressed concern that access to medical marijuana is still difficult in the UK, despite being legalized a year ago. “It seems perverse that opioid prescriptions are still at such high levels when medical cannabis could be a much safer and more cost-effective alternative,” he said. “The current system means that cannabis can only be prescribed in the UK almost exclusively for extreme cases such as life-threatening epilepsy. But when it is not life threatening, like my hands, I see no reason why the legislation is not widened out to allow doctors to prescribe it.”
The drug watchdog NICE - the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence - issued new guidance yesterday on the use of cannabis-based medicinal products, which recommended that the NHS not offer those products for the purposes of managing chronic pain. Part of the rationale stated, “In all cases, the potential benefits offered were small compared with the high and ongoing costs, and the products were not an effective use of NHS resources.”
Stewart explained that his treatment - which is on prescription from a doctor in California - includes a cannabis-based cream, and a chewy (cannabis pill) at night. He stressed, however, that his treatment was for reducing his discomfort, and not for recreational purposes. “People think I must be getting high all the time,” he said. “Nothing is further from the truth.”
According to the Express.co.uk piece, around 30 countries have legalized medical marijuana, as well as a handful of others that allow the drug to be used under strict guidelines.
