Medical Marijuana In Birningham Englad

[nancyjo]

I have a dear friend's mom who is dying in Biringham and he is going home to see her. Does anyone know the system in England and whether doctors will give medical maijuana to patients to help them eat, gain wait, relax, sleep better throughout the night? If you have any advice he leave s this week. Thanks so much!

[Mijoed]

As far as I am aware, this is not an option under the UK law / health system. A great shame as I have seen the benefits of this thirty years ago when my wifes mother was dying of colon cancer and secondaries. It did nothing to prolong her life but, at a time when the doctors had run out of pills to prescribe, it reduced nausea, allowed her to eat, and did help her mental wellbeing during the last few weeks.

[PhilC in reply to Mijoed]

UK NHS is very mean when it comes to Sativax, my friend who has severe MS was taken off it on the grounds of cost

[helenvb]

This may be helpful to you:

Technically I believe a GP/pain clinician/consultant can prescribe Sativex, which is a medical grade cannabis oil. In reality they don't due to the very high costs of this product, the NHS cannot bear the cost vs the prescription charge made.

Cannabis is commonly available illegally in most towns and cities which makes it relatively easy to make an illegal purchase if that's what your friend chose to do. Most constabularies are sympathetic to cannabis use for medical purposes and would only offer a caution rather than a prosecution if an individual was apprehended with a small amount.

One thing the NHS does have is excellent palliative care and MacMillan nurses trained to make end of life care as comfortable and pain free as possible. I would advise your friend discusses his mothers case with the care providers and asks for help. He may find she already has a care plan to manage her pain.

[nancyjo in reply to helenvb]

THank you so much. This is important for my friend to know who is leaving this week. his mom was on a drug which helped with her weight but had to stop because it affected her liver so badly. Good news regarding MacMillan nurses:). Blessings!