Get ready for a very British conversation about cannabis! It's hard to get a medical marijuana prescription through the National Health Service (NHS.) So, since weed was medically legalized in 2018, thousands of UK residents have been paying to get a prescription from one of 18 private cannabis clinics, which allow for a much longer list of qualifying conditions.

Whereas most US states require doctors to make a recommendation for a card that needs to be renewed every year, UK cannabis patients meet with specialist teams and get 28-day-long tailor-made prescriptions. They also get several follow-up phone calls, and there are no cannabis dispensaries to navigate; instead, products are selected by the medical team and mailed to patients' homes from special cannabis pharmacies.

The British patients' experience sounds very different from what the typical American medical marijuana patient gets, but is it better?

In this episode, host Brit Smith talks to London-based Registered Nurse Sophie Hayes, a medical cannabis specialist who is the Clinical Trial Manager at LVL Health; an organization dedicated to conducting clinical research into cannabis medicines in the UK.

Brit and Nurse Sophie discuss the process and cost of getting a cannabis prescription through a private practice in the UK, the dosing and other medical advice given to patients, and why British residents might want to get a medical cannabis prescription instead of relying on the underground market.

They also cover the legal concerns for patients, what kinds of products UK patients will get through the post, the cost of buying legal versus illegal weed on the British Isles, and the three current UK cannabis studies.

Find the winter 2023 medical marijuana issue of Different Leaf the magazine at Differentleaf.com
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