Embracing Medical Cannabis Treatment Will Get People Back to Work

Written by Asif Dewan, Managing Director of Medical Cannabis Clinic Alternaleaf

On Tuesday, Work and Pensions Minister Liz Kendall unveiled Labour’s ambitious plan to address economic inactivity, aiming to get 2.8 million people back into work.

The focus is on improving British health is central to this effort. The UK unemployment rate lags behind many of our European neighbours and most OECD nations. Long-term illness in the UK is a major cause.

Embracing medical cannabis as a legitimate treatment option could be pivotal in this mission. Since its legalisation in 2018, medical cannabis has been proven to safely treat over fifty conditions, including chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

Despite its potential for getting people back to work, NHS prescriptions for medical cannabis remain exceedingly rare – the last records suggested only five patients were being prescribed it via the NHS and for limited conditions.

This has not stopped British people from legally accessing treatment, they’ve just gone private. Prescriptions for Cannabis-Based Products for Medicinal Use (CBPM) more than doubled between 2022 and 2023 when 177,566 items were dispensed. As awareness increases, this is set to rise.

Almost eight in ten (76%) of our patients are employed in sectors like nursing, teaching, hospitality and technology. And many who were previously unemployed due to long-term illness are now back to work because of medical cannabis. Patients like Sarah, who suffers from Hyper Mobility Syndrome, and Steve, who struggled with the physical and mental impact of a road traffic accident, have experienced life-changing improvements through medical cannabis, allowing them to return to work.

If the Work and Pensions Minister needs more reassurance on the link between medical cannabis and improved societal health, countries like Germany and Canada offer promising examples. Germany’s embrace of medical cannabis since 2017 has improved patients’ quality of life, while Canada’s legalisation has reduced opioid prescriptions and related deaths.

By improving access to medical cannabis, we can alleviate NHS waiting lists, currently at an unprecedented 7.57 million cases, and support the government’s efforts to enhance the health and productivity of our nation. A healthy society is a productive one, and medical cannabis could be a crucial component in combating economic inactivity.