DrugScience set up Project Twenty21 to help assist with costs. It is possible to register for a prescription without being on this scheme. Not all clinics participate in the scheme and not all products are available on the lower prices
DrugScience Product Feedback Request:
There is also the Grow Access Project for veterans and people on low incomes, and you can be on Project21 and the GAP scheme:
Please note that the only obvious information that I and other contributors have found, as detailed below is all patient-led again. Total respect again to those providing this, but I felt it worth a mention as issues such as illness or structural communication barriers, might at times delay the upkeep of such resources. It's another thing to be mindful of.
Here's a couple of guides to Private Prescription Cannabis, produced by the High Committee:
Here is a list of all the cannabis prescribing clinics operating in the UK right now.
Please note that different clinics have their different specialists so it's worth looking on their individual websites. Unfortunately, specialists such as pediatricians are very few in number. The clinics individual websites should have the application process or contact details to find it, but again, at time of writing, the transparency and ease of access as well as the service does vary between clinics, but I'm not going to recommend any or shame any, because my experience as a social care home help recipient leads me to believe that particularly in the case of larger clinics, service is likely to ebb and flow dependent on them taking on more customers than they can effectively facilitate. Profits-driven ethics and patient wellbeing are by nature conflicting interests, and one of the many reasons why even under the current restrictions (i.e. no access or support for 'recreational users', those who supplement their own health and wellbeing without feeling the need to go to a doctor.), social and health care provision should be free at point of contact as the Welfare State in it's initial incarnation in 1948 intended. It's far less to do with a sense of entitlement, though yes, I do think that being cared for by those who are paid to do so should be an entitlement. It's far more to do with the incompatility of the current system in delivering what it's meant to.
Here is a list of pharmacies currently providing cannabis. Clinics might have a preference, but my understanding is that you can choose your own pharmacy whatever clinic you are with, and that you can also arrange to have it delivered to your local one.
One nuisance of the system is that there are very often stock shortages, sometimes affecting several strains, which means changing strains if you can't hunt down what you want.
COMPLAINTS
If you have an issue with your clinic, you need to contact them directly. Forewarned is forearmed in my view, so it's worth checking in advance the complaints procedure of your clinic. It should be on their website, but if they all are, some are well hidden, so email their admin if necessary.
If you have problems with the delivery, such as being left with a neighbour (trust me, it happens), contact your pharmacy directly.
If you have a concern regarding your cannabis medication, you might want to consider reporting it to the government's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), using their 'yellow card' system. It's important to clarify (as confirmed by Professor Mike Barnes, who definitely would know) that this is for reporting cannabis which has caused adverse health effects, and not cannabis that is of poor quality, which I'd report to your pharmacy and I personally would let my consultant know.
There are support networks in the form of social media groups and the Medical Cannabis Patients Association. Apart from more regular informal and supportive catch ups, they run a monthly zoom that's live streamed involving members of the cannabis industry that is a really helpful insight into current barriers to progress. I prefer to watch it on catch up where I can stop and rewind a lot, as my concentration is rubbish and I can pause (it's worse without cannabis, but still rubbish).
, The United Patient's Alliance (UPA) is also now campaigning again. These can offer support and advice, but in this context I can't recommend any without caution, as there is a lack of clinical support in these, or indeed most other areas. However well meaning and supportive in many regards, misinformation can potentially disseminate without anyone to correct it. Patients are doing their level best, and certainly shouldn't have to be supporting one another just to get information and help with their issues or queries without support, but I think we can agree that this isn't working in many more ways than just that. Much of the reason I'm providing this information is an attempt to bridge the shortfall, as although there's tons I don't know, and I get things wrong, but my nursing background isn't a waste, not least through knowing where to look for things and scrutinise research and so forth.
Further Reading
Dineen, K. (2022) Leafie. 84% of Brits unaware that cannabis is available on prescription. Available at:
Updated February 2024