‘Should Never Have Been Prescribed’: Private UK Cannabis Clinics Face Call for Tighter Regulation

Why It Matters

The case underscores the safety risks of unregulated medicinal‑cannabis prescribing, especially for vulnerable psychiatric patients, and could trigger tighter industry regulation.

Key Takeaways

• Coroner links medicinal cannabis to Oliver Robinson’s death
• 659k unlicensed cannabis prescriptions issued privately in 2024
• Private clinic Curaleaf rated “good” but faces scrutiny
• Campaign proposes ban for serious mental illness patients
• NHS prescribed only 5k licensed CBMPs in 2023

Pulse Analysis

The UK’s medicinal‑cannabis market has evolved rapidly since the 2018 legal change that allowed doctors on the GMC specialist register to prescribe cannabis‑based products. While the NHS confines itself to a narrow list of licensed formulations for epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and chemotherapy pain, private clinics have filled the gap, issuing hundreds of thousands of unlicensed prescriptions. In 2024, private providers dispensed roughly 659,000 unlicensed products—an increase of over 130% from the previous year—while NHS doctors wrote just 5,000 licensed prescriptions, highlighting a stark divergence in practice and oversight.

Clinical evidence on cannabis for depression and other psychiatric conditions remains limited, and several professional guidelines warn against its use in patients with severe mental illness. Oliver Robinson’s tragic death illustrates how inadequate assessment, reliance on outdated GP summaries, and fragmented communication between private and public providers can exacerbate underlying disorders. The coroner’s findings point to systemic gaps: a specialist psychiatrist without adult‑patient experience approved the treatment, and the clinic failed to coordinate with NHS services, despite the patient’s escalating aggression and dependency. Such failures raise urgent questions about patient safety, especially when monthly costs approach £1,000 (about $1,270), pushing vulnerable individuals toward risky self‑medication.

The fallout is prompting a policy rethink. Robinson’s brother’s “Oliver’s law” campaign seeks to bar cannabis prescriptions for serious mental illness, mandate face‑to‑face assessments, and enforce routine CQC audits with public reporting. If adopted, these measures could tighten the regulatory framework, align private practice with NHS standards, and restore confidence in a market that has grown faster than the evidence base. Industry stakeholders, regulators, and clinicians will need to balance patient access with robust safeguards to prevent further tragedies.