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Andrew Selous

South West Bedfordshire

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Medicinal Cannabis

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There is strong scientific evidence that cannabis can harm people’s mental and physical health, and damage communities. However recent cases have shown the need to look more closely at the use of cannabis-based medicine in treating patients with very specific conditions in exceptional circumstances. This is why the Government decided it was appropriate to review the scheduling of cannabis.

The decision to reschedule these products means that senior clinicians will be able to prescribe the medicines to patients with an exceptional clinical need. Following short term advice issued in September 2018 the ACMD reviewed the rescheduling in November 2020, and I welcome the fact that they recommended that no changes be made, enabling senior clinicians to continue to prescribe these medicines where appropriate.

Moreover, NHS England has published a review which is aimed at assessing the barriers to prescribing cannabis-based medicinal products where it is safe and clinically appropriate to do so. I was delighted to learn that steps have been taken to help to ensure people with prescriptions for cannabis-based products for medicinal use do not have their treatment delayed or interrupted, by altering import restrictions. This is a most welcome step towards improving the supply of cannabis-based medicinal products.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has also developed updated clinical guidance on prescribing cannabis-based products for medicinal use, including for the management of chronic pain. It is crucial that this country keeps in step with the latest scientific evidence, so that patients and their families have access to the most appropriate course of medical treatment. Following difficulties in obtaining prescriptions, I am pleased that NICE has recently published a clarification of this guidance. While this does not represent a change in the law, NICE hopes that it will make prescribing medicinal cannabis clearer and simpler for specialists and therefore easier for patients.

My Ministerial colleagues have also been clear that given the nature of the medicine, it should only be prescribed by specialist doctors and on a case-by-case basis. I believe these controls are necessary to develop clinical expertise and an evidence base for this treatment’s effectiveness.

Notwithstanding the above, however, I absolutely understand the concerns and anguish of patients and their families like Alfie Dingley who suffer on a daily basis. I welcome the rapid progress that has been made and look forward to further rapid improvements in this area so patients like Alfie receive the best, most appropriate treatment and medication, supported by robust evidence.

The decision whether to prescribe an individual with medicinal cannabis is therefore not a political or financial decision, but a decision by a medical expert, who will have considered whether it is the most effective treatment based on an individual’s particular condition.

There is also no requirement for specialist doctors to notify the police or the Home Office when issuing prescription for medicinal cannabis products. Controlled Drug Accountable Officers have a statutory responsibility to secure the safe management and use of controlled drugs. This includes a duty to monitor the prescribing, supply and administration, if applicable, of all controlled drugs and liaise with the police to investigate suspected diversion.

I welcome that there was a debate on access to medical cannabis prescriptions on 6 September. However, due to prior diary commitments I was unable to attend it, but I will make sure to follow this issue closely.

Campaign Responses

  • Access to Waterways
  • Adult Dependant Relative Visa
  • Adult Social Care
  • Afghanistan and Pakistan
  • Afghanistan: Nowzad
  • Afghanistan Refugees
  • Afghanistan Refugees (Christians)
  • Afghanistan Withdrawal
  • Age UK's Winter Warmth Campaign
  • Air Passenger Duty
  • Air Quality
  • Alcohol Duty
  • All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs)
  • Animal Research
  • Animal Testing - Dogs
  • Animal Welfare Legislation
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill: Cats
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill: Dogs
  • Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill
  • Arms Exports
  • Arms Exports: Israel
  • Arthritis
  • ASRU Change Programme
  • Asylum Seekers and Refugee Resettlement
  • Asylum Support and Employment
  • Avian Influenza
  • Aviation Industry Concerns
  • Badgers and Bovine TB
  • BBC Funding
  • BBC World Service
  • Behaviour in Schools
  • Bite Back Better Campaign
  • Bomb Disposal and Whales
  • Bowel Cancer Awareness Month
  • Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions
  • Breast Cancer
  • Building Safety Bill
  • Bus Deregulation
  • Business and Human Rights
  • Caged Farm Animals
  • Campaign - #CatchUpWithCancer
  • Cancer Research
  • Cancer Treatment
  • Carers and Unpaid Carers
  • Cash Availability and Acceptance
  • Child Deaths Worldwide
  • Child Maintenance Service (CMS)’s Collect and Pay Service
  • Child Poverty
  • Childhood Cancer Outcomes
  • Children Affected by Humanitarian Crises
  • Children with Sight Loss (Education)
  • Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill
  • Climate Change
  • Commercial Energy Prices
  • Consular Services in Afghanistan
  • Conversion Therapy
  • COP26
  • COP26 Commitments (100 Days)
  • Coronavirus: Clinically Extremely Vulnerable
  • Coronavirus: Coronavirus Act
  • Coronavirus: Debt Cancellation
  • Coronavirus: Face Coverings
  • Coronavirus: Face Coverings in School
  • Coronavirus: Hospitality Support
  • Coronavirus: International Travel
  • Coronavirus: Mandatory Vaccination
  • Coronavirus: NHS and Social Care Staff (Vaccines)
  • Coronavirus: Provision of Tests
  • Coronavirus: Regulations and Living with COVID
  • Coronavirus: Self Isolation
  • Coronavirus: Support for the Self-Employed
  • Coronavirus: Testing (Childminders)
  • Coronavirus: Travel Industry Support
  • Coronavirus: Vaccines (Developing Countries)
  • Coronavirus: Vaccine Passports
  • Coronavirus: VAT Threshold
  • Cost of Living
  • Courier Employment Rights
  • Cyprus
  • Dangerous Dogs Act
  • Deaths Related to the Benefits System
  • Defibrillators and the Automated External Defibrillators (Public Access) Bill
  • Dementia Research and Diagnosis
  • Democratic Freedoms in the UK
  • Deportation Flights
  • Derby County Football Club
  • Diabetes
  • Disability Benefit Assessments
  • Domestic Abuse (Serial Abusers & Stalkers)
  • Domestic Abuse (Time Limits)
  • Dr Liam Fox’s Down Syndrome Bill
  • Early Years Funding
  • Education and Development Globally
  • Elections Act
  • Elections Act - Blind and Partially Sighted Voters
  • Elections Act - Electoral Commission
  • Elections Act - First Past the Post
  • Elections Act - Joint Campaigning
  • Electric Scooter Trial Concerns
  • Electronic Communications Code
  • Elephants and Ivory Sales
  • End Child Poverty Coalition
  • Endometriosis and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)
  • Energy Charter Treaty
  • Energy Price Cap
  • Energy Security Strategy
  • Environment Bill
  • Epilepsy
  • Epilepsy: Personal Independence Payment (PIP)
  • Fairtrade Fortnight Campaign
  • Fire and Rehire Tactics
  • Fireworks
  • Football Governance
  • Football Index
  • Fracking
  • Free Trade Agreement with Australia
  • Fuel Duty and Prices
  • Fuel Shortages
  • Fur and Foie Gras
  • Future of the TV Licence
  • Gambling with Credit Cards
  • Gambling Regulation
  • Gas Boilers
  • Gaza
  • Gene Editing and Animal Welfare
  • Genetic Technology
  • Glue Traps
  • Good Law Project & Runnymede: Mike Coupe & Dido Harding
  • Government Contracts
  • Green Alternatives to Gas Boilers
  • Green Finance
  • Green Investment - 2021 Spending Review
  • Green New Deal
  • Guidance on Boycotts (Stop BDS)
  • Hamas
  • Hate Crime (Misogyny)
  • Health and Care Bill
  • Health and Care Bill: Integrated Care Boards and Private Sector Providers
  • Health and Care Bill: Privatisation
  • Health and Care Bill: Workforce
  • Health and Disability Green Paper
  • Heat Pumps
  • Hedgehogs
  • Hedgerows
  • HGV Driver Shortage
  • HIV and AIDS
  • Holiday Lets
  • Housing and the Queen’s Speech
  • Housing Emergency (Shelter)
  • Housing First
  • HS2 and the Environment
  • HS2: Cost Transparency
  • HS2: General
  • Human Rights Act
  • Hunting Act 2004
  • Illegal Immigration (Nationality and Borders Bill)
  • Improving Access to the Countryside
  • Independent Review of Children's Social Care
  • Intellectual Property
  • Interest on Student Loans
  • Introducing Extended Producer Responsibility: Glass
  • Islamophobia
  • Israel: Amnesty International
  • Ivory Sales
  • Jagtar Singh Johal
  • Jerusalem
  • Jim Fitton
  • Judicial Review
  • Julian Assange
  • Junk Food Advertising Ban
  • Keeping Primates as Pets
  • TV Licence Fee
  • Live Animal Exports
  • Liver Disease
  • Living Wage and Key Workers
  • Loan Charge
  • Local Electricity Bill
  • Maternity Services
  • Meadows and Grasslands
  • Medicinal Cannabis
  • Menopause
  • Mental Health
  • Mental Health Facilities
  • Mental Health Hubs (Children and Young People)
  • Midwifery Units
  • Migrant Channel Crossings
  • Modern Slavery
  • Motor Neurone Disease
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • National Insurance Contributions
  • National Security
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Accommodation for Asylum Seekers)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Clause 9)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Clause 11)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Overseas Asylum Processing)
  • Nationality and Borders Act (Unaccompanied Children)
  • Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
  • Neonicotinoids
  • New Plan for Immigration
  • NHS Pay
  • NHS Preparations for Winter
  • NHS Privatisation
  • Nigeria: Mubarak Bala
  • Non-Religious Belief (Human Rights)
  • Occupied Palestinian Territories
  • Offshore Wind
  • Oil Drilling and Cambo Oil Field
  • Online Marketplaces (Regulation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Internet Regulation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Misinformation)
  • Online Safety Bill (Pornography)
  • Online Safety Bill (Private Communications)
  • Online Safety Bill (Protecting Children from Online Porn)
  • Online Safety Bill (Suicide and Self-Harm)
  • Online Safety Bill (Women and Girls)
  • Onshore Wind
  • Onshore Wind (Planning)
  • Palestinian Human Right Defenders
  • Palliative Care
  • Pancreatic Cancer
  • Parental Bereavement
  • Parkinson's Disease
  • Pavement Parking
  • Peat
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Police and Sarah Everard Case
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Climate Protesters)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Courts and Tribunals)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Data Extraction)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Parliament Square)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protection of Retail Workers)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protests)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protests and Noise)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Protests Tactics)
  • Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (Unauthorised Encampments)
  • Polluter Pays Bill
  • Prescription Charges
  • Primary School Assessments
  • Prisons (Violence) Bill
  • Private Rented Sector
  • Processing Asylum Claims in Rwanda
  • Proportional Property Tax
  • Prostate Cancer
  • Protection of Pollinators
  • Protests - Abortion Clinics
  • Public Inquiry on COVID-19
  • Public Sector Pensions
  • Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill
  • Puppy and Kitten Sales
  • Queen's Speech - Bill of Rights and Brexit Freedoms
  • Radiotherapy
  • Rail Vs Air Travel
  • Reforming Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing
  • Right to Work Checks
  • Royal Mail
  • Sarcoma UK Drop-In Session
  • Save Our Pubs (CAMRA)
  • Schools Bill
  • Sentencing (Dangerous Driving)
  • Sexual Harassment
  • Shared Parental Leave
  • Social Care Cap (Means Test)
  • Stamp Duty Land Tax
  • State Pension
  • State Pension Age
  • Statutory Sick Pay
  • Stop and Search
  • Support for Deaf Pupils
  • Support for People with Disabilities
  • Support for Renters
  • Support for Road Hauliers
  • Support for the Pig Industry
  • Support for the Travel Industry
  • Sustainable Fishing
  • Tax Avoidance
  • Teachers’ Pay
  • Tourism and VAT
  • Training Collars for Dogs
  • Transport for Disabled People
  • Trophy Hunting
  • UK Foreign Aid
  • UK Trade and Business Commission’s First Annual Report
  • Universal Credit and Working Tax Credits - £20 per Week Uplift
  • Universal Credit Standard Allowance for Those Under 25
  • Universal Credit (Under 25)
  • Universities: Antisemitism (IHRA Definition)
  • Uplands
  • Vaccinations for COVID-19
  • Valerie's Law
  • Vaping
  • VAT on Electric Vehicle Charging in Public Places
  • Violence Against Women and Girls
  • Voter ID
  • Voting System
  • Water Fluoridation
  • Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Developing Countries
  • Wealth Tax
  • Welfare of Farm Animals
  • Women’s Health Strategy - Miscarriages
  • Young People’s Wellbeing

Andrew Selous MP South West Bedfordshire

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