A Tribute To Dr. Carol Coombes OBE, Who Was At The Center Of UK Medical Cannabis Debate

Even though cannabis has gone mainstream in many places around the world, the battle for legalization is far from over. Often governments ignore the evidence regarding the benefits of legalization, even for medical use.

Luckily, there are people everywhere who advocate for legalization, inspire others and change the minds of millions of people who then can influence politicians to change the status quo.

One such person was Dr. Carol Coombes, OBE, who died Aug. 13 after a two-year battle with a rare and severe form of cancer. Coombes was a well-known leadership consultant and the first to receive an OBE for her service to leadership and societal contribution. 

A Medical Cannabis Advocate 

In January 2017, Dr. Coombes was diagnosed with tonsil cancer. In May of the same year, doctors told her that she had just six months to live. She refused chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments and declined painkillers, choosing instead to use cannabis oil and change her diet. 

Of course, the evidence that cannabis can help with cancer is very limited at this point. Coombes survived for two years with cancer.

At the same time, Coombes, a supporter of the NHS, started to advocate for cannabis use for cancer patients and continued to support the government health care system despite the issues that it's facing. 

The U.K. started to allow doctors within the NHS to prescribe some form of cannabis last November, but due to many bureaucratic barriers, access to the plant is still very limited, even though the majority of the population supports reform.

Despite the tough diagnosis, Dr. Coombes did not give up and instead started to fight for other cancer patients and to promote the debate about the importance of medical cannabis in the U.K.

She also established Banned Aid: Weed the World, a Facebook group joined by a number of experts from all over the world who provide valuable and impartial information about medical cannabis.

The group evolved into #WeedItAndReap, a social media movement to promote the discussion about medical cannabis in the U.K.

Coombes founded Cracking Wellness, a community-owned initiative developed by The Active Wellbeing Society. The goal of Cracking Wellness is to provide more information about wellness, the human body and illnesses that include cancer by gathering and making intelligent use of wellness data from around the world.

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