It’s been another busy month at Project Twenty21, with new patient numbers continuing to grow month-on-month, as you will see from our July data below. Last month, we spoke to Leafie about the progress of the project and what we’re learning from the data – you can read the article here.
We remain in awe of our patients for their stories of courage and transformation – if you’re a patient with one of our clinics and would like to share your experience, you can do so here. We recently received an inspirational email from David, a T21 patient with severe anxiety. It’s emails like this that keep us going, driving the project forward in the hope that more people might be able to benefit from medical cannabis treatment in the way that David has. Below is an excerpt from his email.
Quotes
“I have now been on cannabis for 10 months, and today I was offered my first job in 7 years which I start next month. That would not have been possible without cannabis.”
“Without Twenty21, I would have been in a catch-22 position, unable to afford cannabis but unable to get a job because I was too sick. Because of Twenty21 I could afford cannabis. Now I have work, my life has changed completely.”
Please note that the disparity of datapoints from previous months is due to work we’re doing behind the scenes to clean up missing data entry with clinics prescribing T21 products.
This month's data nugget
Every 3 months, we ask patients to fill in questionnaires, which vary according to a patient’s primary condition, in exchange for being able to benefit from subsidised medical cannabis products from our partners. This is how we collect our data for Project Twenty21, so it’s vital that patients submit this information in order for T21 to operate.
Cannabis Voices Podcast
We were thrilled to have a whole episode dedicated to Project Twenty21 on Cannabis Voices, featuring our Head of Research, Dr Anne Schlag, as well as T21 patient, Claire. A huge thank you to Mary Biles for giving us this platform to speak about the work we’re doing!
In this episode, we hear about Drug Science’s latest scientific findings with medical cannabis from Dr Schlag, followed by Claire’s incredible story as a chronic pain patient with Fibromyalgia and Endometriosis. Claire speaks about her journey to finding medical cannabis after trying a long list of other psychiatric medications, how a legal prescription is now enabling her to apply for a PhD in Chronic Pain and she goes into detail around the process of joining the project as a patient.
Our first GP-led clinic
PrivateGP.com is the first GP-run practice to join Project Twenty21. Its Medical Director & Chief Executive Officer, Dr Julia Piper, has over 30 years’ experience working as a General Practitioner, and is a long-term advocate of medical cannabis treatment. This month, Dr Piper spoke to Cannabis Health about her interest in medical cannabis and why it’s important to her that her practice is part of T21 and improving access to medical cannabis. PrivateGP.com can currently prescribe for chronic pain and psychiatric conditions covered by the project – these are listed on our Clinic Directory.
New Student Stories!
Next month, we’re going to be collaborating with Student Societies up and down the country to raise awareness during Freshers Week about medical cannabis and Project Twenty21. If you’re a student and fancy getting involved, fill out this form as soon as you can! As part of this activity, we’ve worked with patients to create Student Stories – one of them being Lucy, who has just had her case study published in the British Medical Journal, a first for medical cannabis! A huge congrats to Lucy!
Events
CBD Live – Tourettes Syndrome: “How Medical Cannabis Gave Me My Fire Back”
– 11-13th August
A virtual online expo for medical cannabis and CBD, featuring T21 patient, Jim Finch, as one of the speakers. Register for free.
Twenty21 at Product Earth Medical Cannabis Zone – 20th-22nd August Drug Science will be at Product Earth’s Medical Cannabis Zone all weekend, providing evidence-based information on medical cannabis and answering questions about Project Twenty21. We’ve arranged a 10% discount for you if you’d like to come and see us.
Black Voices Speak: Cannabis Social Justice Poetry Workshop – 28th August This workshop is a call-to-action for black people to use poetry to highlight the negative impact of drug policy on black communities. Sign up here.
Medical Cannabis Explained (for medical professionals): September date TBC, 7th October Our next CPD certified training session for medical professionals is a perfect opportunity for doctors to ask questions face-to-face with our Clinical Director, Prof Mike Barnes. To find out more and register, click here.
How can you help?
As we analyse more data and receive more and more stories from patients, the importance of Project Twenty21 has never been clearer. If you’d like to support Project Twenty21, to help us gather evidence for medical cannabis to be covered by the NHS, please consider a donation to Drug Science.
Every little bit helps us continue the essential work that we do.