Medical cannabis registry launched to build up evidence base

A national medical cannabis registry has been launched for the UK to build a body of evidence to support NHS prescribing.1

A year after cannabis medicines were made legal in the UK, only a handful of patients have been able to access prescriptions on the NHS, according to campaigners.2 Doctors have been reluctant to prescribe cannabis based products because of a lack of evidence about safety and effectiveness. As a result, patients feel forced to get medical cannabis products through prescriptions given by private clinics or the illicit market.

Project Twenty21, set up by the independent scientific body Drug Science, aims to enrol up to 20 000 patients by the end of 2021. Patients …