THE DIFFICULTIES OF ACCESSING MEDICAL MARIJUANA IN THE UNITED KINGDOM

Overall, the United Kingdom has been in hot water in 2018, all due to incidents involving the sale of the little green plant called marijuana. Earlier this year, a situation at Heathrow Airport involving a child’s medical CBD oil erupted into a public firestorm, resulting in Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s announcement that the UK would be re-reviewing its existing drug policies. As a result, the country has started allowing the use of certain types of medical marijuana products, but the system as not as simple as it sounds. As a result, patients suffering from severe health problems will still have to climb a steep, rocky hill to achieve their medication. What is the problem, exactly? Let’s take a closer look and find out some more information.

The First UK Medical Cannabis Patient Speaks

Suffering from severe fibromyalgia, 32-year old Carly Jayne Barton recently qualified to become the first medical cannabis patient in the United Kingdom, but she would have to spend a lot of money in order to achieve or lifesaving drug. At this time, Barton lives in Brighton, an area with an average income of £25,000 to £30,000, and (according to the new laws) would have to spend an estimated 30% to 40% of the estimated average income to buy the drugs.

Due to severe restrictions from the UK government, Barton and 2-year old Jorja Emerson (who suffers from almost 30 epileptic seizures a day) had to seek medical attention outside the National Health Service. For Barton, the appointment with a pain specialist (costing $2,500) was not overwhelming. Although she has to pay the same amount of money for marijuana as U.S. patients, though, the United Kingdom has set the price for medical pot at £10,000 (which includes import fees and licenses).

Issues in the Bureaucracy

Despite the fact that marijuana is still a risky drug, the situation in the United Kingdom is very unusual, even by our standards. In a recent interview with Leafly, Barton explained that her ultimate goal was to expose the faults of this system and expose all the confusion. However, despite recent movements to open up the floodgates for cannabis in the country, members of the United Kingdoms suffering from autoimmune disorders, cancer, chronic pain, and other illnesses still have a hard time accessing their lifesaving drug.

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