Question reference: S6W-22950
- Asked by: Marie McNair, MSP for Clydebank and Milngavie, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 15 November 2023
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Current status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 November 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work is currently being undertaken to assess the possibility of making medicinal cannabis available on the NHS for those with chronic pain.
Answer
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a clinical guideline on the prescribing of Cannabis Based Products for Medicinal use (CBPMs) for people with intractable nausea and vomiting, chronic pain, spasticity and severe treatment resistant epilepsy on 11 November 2019, which was updated in October 2022. The guideline states that nabilone, dronabinol, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or a combination of cannabidiol (CBD) with THC should not be offered to manage chronic pain in adults. Clinicians working in Scotland are expected to have regard to NICE guidance on CBPMs.
The Scottish Government and SIGN will both shortly be updating their chronic pain prescribing guides that will consider the evidence around the best and most effective treatments for chronic pain.