An expert panel announced by the Government following outcry from the case of severely epileptic boy Billy Caldwell began accepting applications for licences for the drug from senior clinicians on Wednesday, meaning that medicinal cannabis could be available on perscription in as little as two weeks.
If given approval, doctors can then start writing prescriptions for their patient, while ministers decide whether to remove cannabis’s banned status as a medicine. Doctors will have to show there is an ‘exceptional clinical need’ and no other medicine would be suitable for their patient in order to convince the panel. They would also have to accept ‘full responsibility for risks and liability’, the Home Office said. The panel was announced during the controversy surrounding the department’s confiscation of cannabis oil from Charlotte Caldwell as she attempted to bring it into the UK for her 12-year-old son.
The panel is a temporary measure while Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies carries out a review into whether cannabis should be made available for therapeutic use. The Government also announced it would review how much the NHS must pay for a licence, which currently stands at £3,655
The Home Office said patients and their families will not be asked to contribute to the cost.
