Clinicians in the UK should have the option to
prescribe cannabis-derived medicinal products which
meet appropriate safety standards to patients, the
Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has
today advised the Home Secretary.
Responding to a commission it received from the Home
Office to review the scheduling of cannabis-derived
medicinal products, the Council has said that there is
evidence of medicinal benefit of some of these products
in certain circumstances.
The Council has now tasked the Department of Health and
Social Care and the Medicines and Healthcare Products
Regulatory Agency with producing a definition for these
products, in order to allow them to be moved out of
Schedule 1.
Chair of the ACMD, Dr Owen Bowden-Jones, said:
We have completed the first part of our review for
rapid advice into the scheduling of cannabis-derived
medicinal products.
We recommend that cannabis-derived medicinal products
of the appropriate standard be moved out of Schedule
1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. This means
that medical practitioners would be able to prescribe
such medications to patients with certain medical
conditions.
At present, cannabis-derived products can vary
greatly in their composition, effectiveness and level
of impurity. It is important that clinicians,
patients and their families are confident that any
prescribed medication is both safe and effective. The
ACMD recommends that an appropriate definition be
agreed by DHSC and MHRA promptly. Only products
meeting this standard and definition should be given
medicinal status.
Though we agree with the Chief Medical Officer for
England that there is now evidence of therapeutic
benefit for some cannabis-derived products in some
medical conditions, we are also recommending that
urgent clinical trials be carried out to better
improve our understanding of these products.
As the understanding of the potential therapeutic uses
of cannabis-derived products is still developing, the
ACMD recommends that clinical trials urgently take
place to further establish the safety and effectiveness
of different products.
The ACMD has also recommended that synthetic
cannabinoids, which are found in street products such
as ‘Spice’, remain in Schedule 1 pending a longer term
review by the ACMD.
