Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has has been made on ensuring appropriate treatment for people suffering from epilepsy; and what steps he has taken to implement the 2018 review by Dame Sally Davies on the therapeutic and medicinal benefits of cannabis based products.

There are a range of anti-seizure medications that can be prescribed for the treatment of epilepsy that have been shown to be effective at reducing the number of seizures a person experiences. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance on epilepsies in children, young people, and adults, provides clinicians with evidence-based advice around starting a patient on anti-seizure medication. It outlines that clinicians should develop an individualised anti-seizure medication treatment strategy with their patient, taking safety considerations into account, and regularly monitoring and reviewing their patient’s medications. The NICE guidance also includes recommendations on non-pharmacological treatments for epilepsy, such as adhering to a ketogenic diet.

In June 2018, Professor Dame Sally Davies, the former Chief Medical Officer for England and Chief Medical Advisor to the Government, published a review to explore the therapeutic benefits of cannabis-based products for medicinal use. Professor Davies recommended ‘that the whole class of cannabis-based medicinal products be moved out of Schedule 1 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001’.

Following advice from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, the Government accepted the recommendation and amended the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (the 2001 Regulations) and Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order 2015. This introduced a legal route for cannabis-based products for medicinal use to be prescribed by doctors on the General Medical Council specialist register, in the strictly controlled circumstances required by the 2001 Regulations, without the requirement for a Home Office licence

There are no outstanding actions from the review.