Emma Appleby from Kent is urging greater NHS access to medicinal cannabis, which she says has significantly reduced her 15-year-old daughter Teagan’s severe epileptic seizures. Despite cannabis being legalized for medical use in the UK six years ago, Appleby must still pay £2,000 a month privately, as her daughter’s treatment is not available through the NHS.
Similarly, Ryan Gillam from Brighton uses cannabis to manage chronic sciatica and migraines, finding it effective without traditional treatments’ side effects, but it costs him £500 monthly. Both individuals call for NHS support to make medicinal cannabis more affordable. While the NHS prescribes some cannabis-based products for certain conditions, many are inaccessible because manufacturers have not completed the UK’s regulatory process.