CANNABIS should not be prescribed for chronic pain, the NHS funding watchdog has ruled, in a decision that campaigners called “devastating”.
Guidance released today by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) says there is no evidence to show cannabis is beneficial for people suffering from long-term pain.
From the Telegraph today.
My understanding is that Sativax has been available for MS patients on prescription in Wales or Scotland if you were in England you had to get on to a drug trial or get the manufacturer to supply it free or partly subsidized. You had to show you could pay the £400+ a month to get them to co-fund it.
This new NICE guidance goes someway to making it available UK wide to MS and other patients suffering from spasticity. Sativax has CBD and THC in it.
The other licensed medicine contains CBD only and is to be used for severe types of epilepsy i n children. Those children who respond to products with THC in will still have to rely on their parents paying up to £2000 a month and importing their medicine from abroad.
I think the guidance goes someway to help patients and consultants to clarify NHS prescribing.
We are still a long way off Cannibis derived medicines being available for the full range of problems it could potentially help. More research needs to be done and my cynical view is that this will take a long time as drug companies will want to maximize the amount of money they can make from developing "medicinal" products from what is a cheaply produced plant. This is purely my own view on the current situation.
I use cannabis almost daily. I have a little pipe where I get 2 to 4 puffs just at bedtime. It separates me from the pain because it has a forgetful quality about it. What I mean is I will think about it then tell myself ... not to worry I will forget this in about 15 seconds. Walla on to next goofy thought n walla again it is gone. I fall asleep a lot faster also.
I do not like it recreationally that was in my youth. I get a bit paranoid if I do it during the day. So I don’t....
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