Medicinal cannabis will be soon available on prescription in UK

The Home Secretary announced the change in policy regarding cannabis-derived medicine today (July 26). 

Medicinal cannabis products, such as cannabis-oil, will be available on prescription for thousands of patients with drug-resistant conditions from the autumn. 

The dramatic change in policy comes after 12-year-old Billy Caldwell and Alfie Dingley, 6, who both suffered from forms of epilepsy, were denied access to cannabis oil. 

However Sajid Javid has said that despite the change to allow medicinal cannabis on prescription, it is not a sign that the drug will be legalised for recreational use. 

The Guardian reports that the Home Secretary said: '˜Recent cases involving sick children made it clear to me that our position on cannabis-related medicinal products was not satisfactory.

'˜This will help patients with an exceptional clinical need, but is in no way a first step to the legalisation of cannabis for recreational use.'

Cannabis had been considered to have no therapeutic benefits by the government.

But the change in policy has come after the government's official drug advisers and the chief medical officer of England carried out separate studies and discovered the drug does have therapeutic benefits.