Come August 1, children in London will have at their disposal another means to avail medical marijuana for chronic illnesses.
The Sapphire Medical Centre will mark the first private clinic in the British capital to offer medicinal marijuana prescriptions to youngsters.
In a press release, a spokesperson for the clinic said that they can prescribe cannabis for “all conditions known to benefit from it,” while promising to consult all families “with an open mind.”
Medical marijuana was legalized last year in the United Kingdom, a decision that was taken after a long campaign inspired by cases of two children suffering from epilepsy, who required cannabis oil to deal with the condition. “My intention was always to make sure that patients have access to the most appropriate route of medical treatment,” Sajid Javid, British Home Secretary, said in a press release at the time.
The treatment, however, still remains elusive for most of the patients because of the following reasons:
- Cannabis can only be prescribed by ‘specialist’ doctors.
- Patients can’t request marijuana to be imported without an issued prescription.
- Many parents have complained that getting a prescription for their children is ‘virtually’ impossible.
Last month, Cam Battley, CCO of Aurora Cannabis — the world’s largest medical marijuana company — slammed the British government for its poor approach towards the entire process, asking them to be a “leader and not a laggard”. “I see no point in creating a medical marijuana system if patients can’t access it easily,” the CCO said at a conference in London.
As of now, the only clinic that offers medical marijuana in the country is located in the Greater Manchester area. The organization behind this clinic has plans to expand its operations to London but is unwilling to have a pediatrics department. The due-to-open Sapphire Medical Clinic, on the other hand, aims to become a nationwide network of clinics.
Notably, the doctors at the clinic hold the right not to recommend medical marijuana containing THC, the psychoactive compound that gives users a ‘high’.
