Over the weekend, a media outlet published a story about medical cannabis that, unfortunately, missed key facts about how this medicine is accessed and regulated in the UK.

Sensational headlines implying that high-strength cannabis products are easily obtainable with a single consultation without meaningful oversight, risks spreading misinformation that does a disservice to patients, clinicians and the medical cannabis industry as a whole.

Medical cannabis in the UK is only available via private prescription which means that it is subject to the same regulatory standards as all other prescription medicines:

• All medicines supplied to patients must come from MHRA-licensed manufacturers and distributors, like Curaleaf Laboratories, with full oversight of quality, safety, and consistency.
• Products are manufactured according to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards, ensuring robust quality controls at every stage of production.
• There is no legal route for patients in the UK to obtain medical cannabis outside of this system, a fact that is sometimes overlooked in press coverage.

Another misleading narrative suggests patients can walk away from a single consultation with a prescription for high-strength cannabis products without ongoing care.

In reality:

• Prescriptions are only written by doctors listed on the GMC specialist register with appropriate expertise, often within specialist teams with experience in therapeutic cannabis.
• These consultations take place with CQC-registered clinics, which are held to stringent care standards and subject to independent inspection.
• Patients are always followed up through regular appointments, enabling clinicians to monitor treatment response, adjust dosing where appropriate and ensure evidence-based care.

Once a prescription is written, the medicine is not handed out arbitrarily. It is dispensed through GPhC-regulated pharmacies, which further protect patient safety:

• Pharmacists check prescriptions for clinical appropriateness and legality before dispensing.
• Patients receive professional advice on how to take their medication.

This chain from MHRA-approved manufacture, through CQC-registered clinical assessment, to GPhC-regulated dispensing is a hallmark of the UK system and speaks to the seriousness with which medical cannabis is treated.

We are also seeing instances where FOI data is being selectively interpreted to suggest medical cannabis prescribing is spiraling out of control. However, such datasets often lack context, including clinical rationale or patient complexity and do not reflect the regulated prescribing framework described above.

Drawing broad conclusions from raw numbers without this nuance can mislead readers and fuel unfounded concern.

We are committed to transparency, research, and collaboration with healthcare professionals to support appropriate patient access to regulated treatments. We also believe that public discourse around medical cannabis should be rooted in fact and context, not conjecture or partial data.

Patients deserve clear information, clinicians deserve respect for their judgment and the public deserves reporting that reflects how modern medicines are safely introduced and managed.

We welcome ongoing discussion about medical cannabis, prescribing, its limitations, and the policies that shape its use. We believe that discussion should be measured, accurate, and focused on improving care.