Medical Marijuana Patient Assaulted By UK Cops, Families Seek Gov Help With Expensive Treatment For Children

Medical marijuana was legalized in 2018 in the United Kingdom and recent reports reveal its import has tripled in volume this year, however, the British bobbies seem to be oblivious. Five years on and law enforcement is still occasionally arresting licensed medical marijuana consumers. 

One such example is Sal Aziz, a 24-year-old NHS administrator who was arrested for vapiing legally prescribed medical marijuana one August evening on the seafront in Plymouth, writes The Guardian.

“I explained that I have a prescription for medical cannabis and showed the officer my medication,” said Aziz. “As soon as they opened the pot, they said that my medication is not legal.”

He was pinned to the ground by an officer, handcuffed and locked in a police cell for six hours. After his released, Aziz filed a formal complaint.

A police liaison whom he emailed to explain medical marijuana flower is legal via private clinics, asked where that legislation can be found since they’d only found information about the NHS.

While it is possible to access medical marijuana through the NHS, this rarely occurs and only in extreme cases of epilepsy, chemotherapy-caused nausea or muscle stiffness associated with MS.

The Guardian reported that as many as 24 medical cannabis users responded to its call, opening up about their experience with the police regarding public medical marijuana use. The lucky ones encountered understanding police officers. The unfortunate ones had their medicine seized, were arrested and brought to court.

How is this possible?

Easily apparently, as a Sussex police officer from a similar case explained, while rejecting a complaint about the incident “I am afraid that police officers cannot be expected to know about every aspect of every law that affects UK citizens.”

After the incident, Aziz became a medical marijuana advocate. The officer confirmed that police had been “ill-equipped to deal with patients lawfully in possession of cannabis.”

Aziz participated in the South West’s first “medicinal cannabis roadshow” in Exeter on Monday, and praised the force for making changes, reports Planet Radio.

"I'm furious that it happened to begin with, but I'm really grateful that I've been able to work with the police to address the issues that are there, and make sure that something like this can't happen again,” Aziz said. "Following my arrest a couple of months ago, I have been working with Devon and Cornwall police to prevent a problem like this happening again to another medical cannabis patient, and I will be sharing an official update from their Drug Expert during the conference."

The police force has undergone joint training on the issue alongside members of Avon & Somerset and Dorset Police.

Petitioning Government To Reimburse Expensive Life-Saving Medicine

Arrests for legal medical marijuana consumption are not the only weaknesses of the UK's medical marijuana programs. Since medical marijuana is not widely available via the NHS, many families struggle to afford life-saving medicine for their children.

Over five years, many parents and their children made headlines when they publicly urged the HNS to help them obtain expensive medical cannabis oil. Families got involved in the  “I am Billy” campaign in 2022, wherein several global marijuana producers agreed to provide free medical cannabis to children suffering with seizures if their families agreed to share their medical data and outcomes with physicians for research purposes.

Read Here: Only Cannabis Stops Harry's Constant Seizures, Says Mom, He Gets It For Free Thanks To 'I Am Billy Campaign'

More recently, Karen Gray of Edinburgh opened up about her son who previously was having “hundreds” of seizures a day. Since he began using medical marijuana treatment in 2019, he has not had a single one. Unfortunately, the Gray family has to pay £1000 a month for the treatment, like many other families in the UK, reports Edinburgh Live.

“Over £1000 a month is going to the cannabis oil,” Gray said. “Only three children in the whole of the UK are getting it free of charge on the NHS. We're now going to parliament to ask why certain people are getting funded and other children aren't?"

Gray is inviting people to join her and other families on Nov. 8th on the fifth anniversary of legalization to gather at Parliament to try and "get some movement."

"We're then walking to Downing Street with plaques and we're going to hand in a petition, and we're hoping to get MPs to sign."

In July, a petition was launched to urge the UK government to introduce a reimbursement scheme for children in need of medicinal cannabis.

See Also: Hope For Patients: UK Bill Enabling General Practitioners To Prescribe Medical Marijuana

Photo: Benzinga edit with images by Kindel Media and Dominika Gregušová via Pexels