On the 1st of November 2018, medicinal cannabis products were removed from schedule 1 and placed in schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. This change in the law has left patients, medical professionals and law enforcement perplexed about who should and who should not have access to medicinal cannabis. As access to medicinal cannabis expands in the coming years, the next generation of medical students will need to understand the Endocannabinoid System.
Drug Science believes that cannabis medicine should be an essential part of medical students’ education. Healthcare professionals do not feel comfortable prescribing something which they have little or no experience of treating patients with and which does not have the wealth of data from randomised controlled trials that is expected today. This is why Drug Science has developed an educational programme that covers the ‘must-have’ information surrounding medicinal cannabis. We intend to distribute these informative resources to all medical learning institutions. In the meantime, you can download our medicinal cannabis slides below.
History & Current Law
This module focuses on the historical use of medicinal cannabis, internationally and in the UK. This includes a chronological look at the prohibition of cannabis, the rise of anti-cannabis propaganda (otherwise known as ‘reefer madness’) and the intervention of US drug policies into UK politics. Module 1 will also examine the current legal status of medicinal cannabis in the UK, including case studies from British cannabis activists. These contemporary case studies illustrate patients’ barriers to accessing medicinal cannabis. This module provides up-to-date guidance on the current legal status of medicinal cannabis and available licensed cannabis products. Our goal in this module is to educate medical students on who can prescribe these products and how they can do so.
Pharmacology
This module takes a deep dive into the neurology that underpins medicinal cannabis prescriptions. Humankind’s understanding of neurological processes and the impact that medicinal cannabis has on the Endocannabinoid system is expanding. As attitudes towards scientific prohibition lessen, pioneering research on cannabis is taking place at an accelerated rate. However, more research is needed and the medical students of today could be the cannabis researchers of the future. This module will help students to comprehend the current understanding of how cannabis affects people and what research is still required.