In the latest Healthy Beast Podcast with Richard Holt, Prof Barnes talks about access to medical cannabis on the NHS.
Listen to the podcast here: Healthy Beast with Prof Mike Barnes
Two years ago medicinal cannabis was legalised in the UK after Professor Mike Barnes secured the first NHS prescription for Alfie Dingley, an epileptic boy having dozens of seizures a day. Thousands of children like Alfie need cannabis, but despite promises from the Health Secretary, no prescriptions are being written.
Private cannabis prescriptions for pain and anxiety are rising rapidly, Prof Barnes says. But if you go to an NHS doctor, you will be offered OxyContin, never cannabis. Prof Barnes is urging patients not to give up, to put doctors under pressure until they start prescribing a medicine that improves quality of life immeasurably for so many people.