Medical cannabis products will be legal in the United Kingdom by autumn, Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced on Thursday. The decision comes after a government review of the medicinal use of cannabis. Javid ordered the study in response to high-profile cases of young Britons denied cannabis treatments for serious medical conditions.
Prior Cannabis Policy ‘Not Satisfactory’
“Recent cases involving sick children made it clear to me that our position on cannabis-related medicinal products was not satisfactory,” Javid said. “That is why we launched a review and set up an expert panel to advise on license applications in exceptional circumstances.”
Javid emphasized that the government was only relaxing its stance on the medicinal use of cannabis, not legalizing it outright.
“This will help patients with an exceptional clinical need but is in no way a first step to the legalization of cannabis for recreational use,” Javid said.
Javid made his decision based on advice from the chief medical officer for England, Prof. Dame Sally Davies, and the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. The Home Secretary had called on them to review the medicinal use of cannabis after young U.K. boys Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley were denied cannabinoid therapies to treat serious seizure disorders.
Charlotte Caldwell, Billy’s mother, said the announcement came on her son’s 13th birthday.
“For the first time in months I’m almost lost for words, other than ‘thank you Sajid Javid’,” she said. “Never has Billy received a better birthday present, and never from somebody so unexpected.”
Caldwell had been publicly critical of the U.K. government after a cannabis medicine used to treat her son Billy’s epilepsy was seized by border officials at Heathrow Airport in June. Billy had been using