In the midst of a healthcare crisis, the health secretary, Steve Barclay, has declared that “innovation is crucial to solving the challenges facing the NHS”. Yet the UK remains late to the party with regard to one of the most popular innovations in medical treatment over the past few decades – the use of medicinal cannabis.

First legalised in California in 1996, the medical use of cannabis is now part of the mainstream everywhere from Australia and Argentina to Peru and Poland as a treatment for conditions including epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, endometriosis and, most commonly, chronic pain. In November 2018, it seemed as though the UK had finally caught up when Theresa May’s government changed the law to allow the NHS and private providers to prescribe cannabis-based medical products.

Keep reading at The Guardian