UK Must Secure Medical Cannabis Access via the NHS Rather Than Leave Vulnerable Patients to a Volatile Private Market
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/kojo-koram. "The UK’s legal cannabis market is booming – so why can’t this talented artist get any to treat his epilepsy? | Kojo Koram | The Guardian." November 1, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
The UK legalised medical cannabis but the NHS almost never prescribes it, so patients like Louis, who needs it for epilepsy, must pay privately. The private market chases wellness customers, not people with rare serious conditions, and now a key supplier has gone bankrupt. The author says the government must step in to secure supply and make medical cannabis a normal NHS prescription.
Conclusion
The UK government should intervene immediately to secure Bedrolite supply for all patients who need it, and should invest in and regulate medical cannabis so it becomes an accepted NHS prescription, rather than leaving seriously ill patients to the private market.
Premises
- Although medicinal cannabis was legalised in 2018, the NHS has almost never funded it: fewer than five prescriptions for unlicensed cannabis-based products were issued across the NHS until 2025, and requests for funding are rarely granted.
- As a result, patients such as Louis Petit can only access medical cannabis through the private sector, at up to £4,000 a month.
- The private market is driven by profitable wellness and lifestyle consumers (vapes, gummies, anxiety and sleep treatments), and there is little commercial incentive to fund the large clinical trials needed to license cannabis medicines for rare, severe conditions like complex epilepsy.
- Bedrolite is a specially modified oil for drug-resistant childhood epilepsy and cannot be replaced with general cannabis products, and its Dutch producer Bedrocan has gone bankrupt, threatening supply and risking severe consequences from forced withdrawal.
- Governments have neglected the issue because cannabis is stigmatised by the 'war on drugs' and politicians fear negative headlines; they would act urgently if the shortage involved insulin or beta blockers.
- Therefore, patients with serious illness are being left at the mercy of a volatile market while the cannabis industry itself booms, a paradox created by government abdication after legalisation.
Assumptions
- Governments have a responsibility to ensure access to effective medicines for serious illness regardless of patients' wealth.
- Bedrolite is effective for Louis and similar patients, and forced withdrawal would cause serious harm.
- The NHS's refusal to fund is driven mainly by stigma and political caution rather than legitimate clinical or cost-effectiveness concerns.
- Government intervention can feasibly secure supply from a bankrupt foreign manufacturer.
- The case of Louis Petit is representative of a wider group of patients.
- The analogy between cannabis-based medicines and insulin or beta blockers is apt in terms of evidence base and clinical need.