Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of prescribing medical cannabis to treat Charcot-Marie-Tooth Syndrome.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) does not recommend the use of any cannabis-based medicines to manage chronic or neuropathic pain in adults and that cannabidiol (CBD) only be offered as part of a clinical trial.

NICE recognises the lack of evidence to support the use of these medicines and recommends that further research is carried out on the clinical and cost effectiveness of CBD as an add-on treatment for adults with fibromyalgia or for persistent treatment resistant neuropathic pain.

The National Institute for Health Research welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. As for all other medicines, it is the responsibility of the manufacturers to generate the evidence required for assessment by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and NICE.