How do experts think it could help patients?

Research on cannabis in the UK has been limited since it was classified as a schedule 1 drug with no recognised therapeutic benefits until Thursday, meaning that Home Office licenses were required to examine the drug.

There is, however, surprising evidence of cannabis’ efficacy, given the drug has been illegal in most countries for many years, according to Professor Mike Barnes, an expert in medicinal cannabis and the clinician who secured Alfie Dingley’s emergency license earlier this month.

In a recent article for the British Medical Journal, he explained how cannabis could be useful for the treatment of chronic pain, spasticity, nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy and drug-resistant epilepsy, among other conditions.

“The recent case of Alfie Dingley and other children, whose epilepsy responded to full extract cannabis oils containing CBD and THC, shows that the matter is complex and that some children seem to respond maximally to a combination of low dose THC and higher dose CBD,” he wrote.

“A recent Cochrane systematic review of 23 randomised controlled trials confirmed the anti-emetic properties of “cannabinoids”. Patients were five times more likely to report complete absence of vomiting against placebo.