Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of parents illegally accessing cannabinoid epilepsy treatments for their children.

To date no assessment has been made. Both licensed cannabis-based medicines (i.e., those with a marketing authorisation granted in accordance with the medicines legislation applicable in the UK) and unlicensed cannabis-based products for medical use (CBPMs) can be lawfully prescribed. Anyone buying medicines from illicit or unregulated markets cannot be sure what they contain or whether they will cause them harm.

CBPMs are placed in Schedule 2 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. They are available for prescribing by specialist clinicians. All other cannabis-based products containing controlled drugs, other than licensed cannabis-based medicines that have been separately scheduled, remain in Schedule 1 under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 and cannot ordinarily possessed except under a Home Office licence.

Cannabis is controlled as a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, and the penalties for unauthorised possession, supply and production remain unchanged.