Medical Cannabis - how the journey started..

In March 2023, I began to look into medical cannabis.

To be honest, I’d been trying to get my hands on some weed as I’d heard that it was excellent for pain relief and quietening those horrid voices in my head. The Teenager had moved into halls and allegedly it meant that we should be able to get our hands on some to try. I don’t know where everyone else was/is getting it from, but it’s a lot harder than you’d imagine and Teenager had no luck.

I heard about Dispenseree which sounded hilarious to me, but after a little research, I decided to give them a go. That will probably be another entry!

Da Boss went another avenue and we got our hands on some brownies from Etsy. They tasted lovely but seemed to have little effect on my pain or anxieties. Throughout all of this, I fell into Reddit and YouTube and this was where I found out about cannabis being legal for medical use if you went through a private clinic. There were conditions that had to be met: you had to have tried at least two conventional methods of relief, and you had to provide the clinic with your Care Record and hand over a chunk of cash, but after that, you gain access to cannabis legally.

I filled in the eligibility form on Mamedica’s website which said that I could move forward to booking a consultation as soon as they had received my SCR from my Doctor’s surgery. It also said that I could get this for myself if I thought it would be easier, but I ticked the box to give them permission to apply directly to my Doctor’s surgery. Then I sat back and waited.

And waited.

On 9th June, Da Boss was going to the Doctor’s surgery so she asked if they had forwarded my Summary Care Record to Mamedica. She was told that they needed the request in writing from me and gave her a form to complete, which we did and sent it back immediately. I contacted Mamedica around 18th June to find out if they had received it and got a reply saying I might want to nudge the Doctor’s surgery as it hadn’t been received as yet. I tried downloading my Summary Care Record (SCR) from the Patient Access app but I couldn’t figure out how to upload it to the Mamedica Sail portal.

So I called Mamedica again and this time, I spoke to Sam. Kudos to Sam because he was an ocean of calm, checking and finding that my SCR had been received but not attached to my file which made it look like it wasn’t there. I had already uploaded a scan of my PIP award which showed that I was eligible for the Access scheme, which meant that we could move to making the appointment for the consultation. Result!

I was originally booked in for July 11th at 6 pm which felt a long way away but I was happy to be booked in at all, and Sam said that he would put me on a cancellation list so if an earlier appointment was available, I could grab that one. Which is just what happened – an appointment turned up for Monday 10th July at 3 pm. I received an invoice from Mamedica for the £200 which represented the consultation fee and future prescriptions on the access scheme which I paid immediately.

I apologise, but I forget the name of the consultant I spoke to – he went through all of the paperwork to ensure that I had uploaded everything and they had all of my information. Then he checked my medical history where I told him about my stroke (roughly 9 years ago) and my heart attack which was in May 2022.

He explained that because cannabis use represented a ‘risk’ for both heart attacks and strokes it meant that the medical team might be reluctant to go in hot and heavy with the first prescription. We both felt that the risks associated with using cannabis were mitigated by the good it could do for me: pain relief, easing of anxieties, etc and he was hopeful that I would be accepted.

Which I was – I received an email confirming the outcome of my consultation followed by an invoice for what we had agreed I should try.

"Following your initial consultation, I can confirm that the MDT have approved your case and that our consultant is generating a prescription for you.

  They will send your electronic prescription to the pharmacy within the next 3 working days. Once received the pharmacy team will contact you when your invoice is prepared, and once the invoice is paid, your items will be ordered.  Once the items have been received in the pharmacy a member of the team will contact you to discuss dispatch. Please be advised that oil based items can take up to 14 days from ordering to receipt in the pharmacy. We can give you option to split your prescription if this is helpful and you will be able to discuss this with the pharmacy team. It should be noted that we may charge you for this service.

  Your prescription items will be dispensed and dispatched by Royal Mail special delivery to your home address and you will receive by text the tracking number for this delivery."

I paid the invoice from Mamedica’s Dispensary on 12th July and that was that. Today (17th July) I called Mamedica to say that I hadn’t heard anything from their dispensary regarding my order and they said they would chase it up for me. So that’s where we are with Mamedica – waiting to see what we get!

So far, my impressions are that when it comes to getting your SCR and initial consultation, it pays to call and speak to someone – emails proved unsuccessful, but speaking to Sam and other members of his team meant that things picked up pace and seemed to start happening – I understand that more people are becoming aware of the access to medical cannabis, hence the difficulty getting an appointment. I can’t speak for other clinics such as Lyphe or Sapphire as I didn’t go with them – that decision was purely based on the Access scheme that Mamedica offered – the thought of paying £200 as a one-off payment and then just for product felt like it would be easier for me to budget and manage, although I understand that other clinics offer different kinds of access.