What are the requirements to get medical cannabis in the UK?

There is no statutory checklist for medical cannabis in the UK, and no form that guarantees a prescription. But specialists apply a broadly consistent set of criteria. This guide sets them out so you know what will be asked, and why.

First, a correction: there is no official list

The UK does not have a statutory list of qualifying conditions, a points system, or an eligibility form that produces a legal entitlement. The 2018 law deliberately left the decision with the specialist prescriber, case by case.

That matters when you read eligibility checkers online, including ours. They are triage tools. They tell a clinic whether it is worth booking an appointment, and they save you paying for a consultation that was never going to succeed. They cannot approve you, and no honest clinic will claim otherwise.

What follows is what UK specialists consistently look at in practice.

1. Age and residence

You need to be 18 or over and living in the UK.

Prescribing for children does happen — a licensed cannabidiol medicine is used in severe childhood epilepsies — but NICE guidance is that for children the initiating prescriber should be a tertiary paediatric specialist. That is hospital care, not a telehealth service. Private adult clinics do not treat children.

You also need a UK address for a UK pharmacy to dispense to. A prescription written by a UK specialist cannot be posted abroad.

2. A diagnosed condition

A specialist needs a diagnosis on record, made by a clinician. Symptoms alone — pain, poor sleep, anxiety — are not enough on their own, because they do not tell the prescriber what is being treated.

If you have never had your symptoms formally investigated, that is the first step, and it is one your GP can start. This is not bureaucracy: it protects you from having a treatable underlying cause masked by symptom relief.

If you are unsure whether your condition is one UK specialists consider, see What conditions can be treated with medical cannabis?

3. Standard treatments tried first

In UK practice you will usually be asked to show that at least two standard, licensed treatments for your condition have been tried and did not give adequate relief, or caused side effects you could not live with.

This is the practical expression of "unmet clinical need" — the principle that justifies prescribing an unlicensed medicine at all. It is a convention applied across UK clinics rather than a number written into legislation, and what counts as an adequate trial is itself a clinical judgement: a medicine abandoned after two days at a low dose is usually not a trial.

"Standard treatment" is broader than medication. Depending on the condition it can include physiotherapy, pain-management programmes, talking therapies, surgery or specialist input. Bring the whole history, including the things that did not involve a prescription pad.

4. Your medical records

A specialist prescribing an unlicensed medicine needs to verify your history, not take it on trust. Practically, that means your GP records or a detailed summary.

You have a right to your records. Under UK GDPR you can request them from your GP practice free of charge, and they must normally respond within one month. Many patients find it faster to view and share their record through the NHS App or their NHS account. Some clinics will request records on your behalf with your written consent.

Missing records are the single most common reason an assessment stalls. Starting the request before your first appointment usually saves weeks.

5. Safety checks

The specialist reviews your other conditions, your current medicines and your risk factors to decide whether cannabis-based treatment would be safe for you specifically.

Areas that get particular attention include a personal or family history of psychosis or schizophrenia; pregnancy, breastfeeding or planning a pregnancy; significant heart or circulatory disease; liver or kidney impairment; a history of dependence; and interactions with medicines you already take, especially sedatives, some anti-epileptics and some blood thinners. Your driving, your job and any safety-critical duties are also relevant and will be discussed.

Cannabis-based medicines have real side effects, which the clinician should go through with you. Commonly reported ones include drowsiness, dizziness, dry mouth, changes in appetite, nausea and effects on concentration and memory; less commonly, anxiety, low mood or altered perception. Where THC is involved there is a recognised risk of dependence, and a risk of psychiatric effects in susceptible people.

What is not required

Some widely believed requirements are simply not real.

• A cannabis card or licence. Does not exist in the UK.
• A GP referral for a private clinic. Most accept self-referrals; what they need is your records.
• Your GP's approval. Helpful, and sharing a treatment summary with your GP supports safe care, but it is not a legal precondition.
• Previous cannabis experience. Neither required nor disqualifying.
• A specific condition from an approved list. There is no such list.

Meeting every criterion still is not a guarantee

Eligibility criteria describe who can reasonably be assessed. The prescription itself depends on the specialist's judgement about you.

Two people with the same diagnosis and the same treatment history can reasonably receive different answers, because the decision weighs benefit against risk for that individual. If a service implies that meeting a checklist produces a prescription, treat that as a claim about marketing rather than about medicine.

Patient guide · Written by the Flora House editorial team · Last reviewed: 8 September 2026