UK medicinal cannabis industry faces soaring demand

LBC’s been given exclusive access to a top-secret facility in the Midlands growing medicinal cannabis, as research suggests more prescriptions could help larger numbers of sick people back into work and ease pressure on the health service.

Medical cannabis has been legal in the UK since 2018, but is currently prescribed in very limited cases on the NHS, such as severe epilepsy, chemotherapy-related nausea and multiple sclerosis. For most patients, access is restricted to private prescriptions. 

We were shown around a factory run by cannabis producer Dalgety - where most of the work is done manually and staff hand-trim crops to make sure the medicine is safe for people to use.

The company says that work is important to set prescribed cannabis apart from products bought on the street, which might be impure or too potent.

Dalgety told us it currently has capacity to fulfil 4,000 prescriptions a month - but demand is soaring.

"The UK industry is growing about 100% per year,” chief executive James Leavesley says. “We’re looking to bring more cultivation rooms online in the years to come to meet that increased demand".

Since the law changed in 2018, campaigners argue that NHS access to the treatment remains too limited, with many patients left confused about how or whether they can qualify.

Fatma Mehmet, 44, from Hertfordshire, has been using medicinal cannabis to help with osteoarthritis and told LBC it was transformative: "I felt like the condition robbed me of my life and I’d lost myself and my identity.

"It was only medicinal cannabis that gave me part of my life back".

She added: "For me, it felt like a miracle. It’s not a miracle cure. I sleep well, I wake up pain-free, and if I manage my day, I’m able to have a whole day that is pain-free".

The Department of Health and Social Care told LBC: "NHS England and the National Institute of Health and Care Research have agreed over £8.5m in funding for two world-first clinical trials for cannabis-based products for medicinal use.

"The NHS funds licensed cannabis-based medicines where there is clear evidence of their quality, safety and effectiveness".

He also claims Britain’s reliance on imports is slowing down access to vital treatments.

"The UK market heavily relies on imported products, but importing a controlled drug is an incredibly complicated process", Mr Leavesley explained.

"The importance of a UK supply chain means the regulator has complete oversight of what Dalgety do here, and it means the speed that our medicines can get to patients is significantly reduced". 

Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research suggests that expanding NHS access to medical cannabis could boost the UK economy by £13.3 billion over the next decade by getting thousands more people back into employment.

Researchers also estimate it could reduce hospital admissions for eligible patients by more than a quarter each year.