National Health Service risks repeating thalidomide scandal if physicians prescribe cannabis, UK professor says

A UK professor told MPs that the National Health Service (NHS) risks repeating the thalidomide scandal if physicians prescribe cannabis before it has passed an adequate amount of clinical trials.

 

 

Chief scientific advisor for the Department of Health Professor Chris Witty told the Commons Health Committee that the drug has yet to be proven safe, and that cannabis should face the same process of approval as all prescription drugs in the UK.

Welcome to Professor Chris Whitty who takes up the role of interim Government Chief Scientific Adviser from today. pic.twitter.com/2TlSr7KN0c

— Sir Patrick Vallance (@uksciencechief) September 18, 2017

“It’s very dangerous to have cannabis exceptionalism here,” Whitty told MPs.

“The history of medical development is littered with people rushing things and regretting it or, in a few cases, thalidomide probably the most well-known, having an absolute disaster.”

Thalidomide was a drug prescribed for morning sickness and insomnia that was used in the UK from the late 1950s until 1962. Its use resulted in fetuses being miscarried and surviving children being born severely malformed, some dying of complications. The drug use created a scandal, followed by a series of subsequent legal action in multiple countries when it was revealed to be unsafe in 1962.

James Smith from Pound, Virginia, rubs his head while waiting for dental services with hundreds of others at the Remote Area Medical clinic in 2008 in Wise, Virginia. Pound said he was born with birth defects due to thalidomide, which his mother had taken during pregnancy in the early 1970’s.

Thalidomide is still used today, but its applications are limited to treating complications in leprosy and specific types of cancer.

Although Witty conceded that cannabis products “are drugs, they have side effects, they have positive effects–that is clear,” he warns that more rigorous research is needed before cannabis should be made widely available to patients.

Cannabis was approved for medical use by the federal government last year, allowing physicians to prescribe the drug—but many patients have reported being denied NHS prescriptions, calling the process to qualify overly restrictive and the drug nearly impossible to access.

The country’s first medical cannabis clinic opened recently, but with visits costing £200 each and prescriptions running between £600 and £700, the drug is still inaccessible to many patients.