Meet the UK’s leading private medical cannabis clinic – Mamedica
Mamedica is the UK’s leading medicinal cannabis clinic specialising in tailored cannabis-based prescriptions from oil to cannabis flower. The licensed service, advocating for improved accessibility to a range of medical and natural solutions, offers bespoke treatment for a number of clinical and degenerative diseases across pain, psychiatry, neurology and cancer-related conditions.
According to the Department of Health, there are eight million chronic pain sufferers in Britain, 24% of whom are typically prescribed opioids – a group of highly addictive painkillers, which has been proven ineffective amongst three million sufferers. Since the UK’s legalisation of medicinal cannabis in November 2018, there is a growing amount of evidence demonstrating the pharmacotherapeutic effectiveness of cannabinoid over opioid treatment for pain management. For example, findings from existing research found that from 2011 to 2015 the number of patients administered cannabis for pain relief more than doubled from 33,189 to 72,114 people – with users reporting mitigation in inflammation and improved functional outcomes. Considering the steady rate at which this is opted for as a viable treatment, the number of active medical cannabis users is projected to reach over 337,000 in the next two years.
Despite the practice of administering cannabis-based treatments remaining a point of contention in public and NHS services, there are currently 17,000 people in the UK being prescribed medicinal cannabis for their health conditions – ranging from Parkinson’s, mental health disorders and insomnia. Of those patients, only 250 are privately paying for treatment while a reported 1.4 million are self-medicating via the grey market. Whilst the government’s stance on legalising cannabis is unabating, public support for legal cannabis in the UK is at an all-time high, as a recent survey showed that over half of Brits (52%) support the legalisation of cannabis. To this end, current arguments to keep cannabis criminalised in this country continue to get weaker, while the public health benefits become more apparent.
Jon Robson speaks about his founding story:
“Started my career in foreign exchange aged 16 and transitioned into trading within a year. Over 18 years in financial markets, I dealt for the likes of Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UBS and subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway to name a few. Between 2011-2020, I traded equity derivatives at Sunrise Brokers and was instrumental in delivering revenue prior to its sale to BGC Partners.
“I took the decision to leave financial services upon hearing there were 10,000 privately paying medical cannabis patients in the U.K. I first became aware of cannabis around 20 years ago however, it wasn’t until I spent time in California – and visited a medical cannabis dispensary for the first time – that I realised the potential it had to improve the lives of people who were on much stronger medications. Ever since, I have been waiting for the opportunity to provide this service to patients in the U.K. and in June this year, MAMEDICA was launched.”
Who is eligible to use Mamedica’s services?
The service can be accessed by anyone, on a referral basis, that meets the health criteria and is over the age of 18. The service user will have to have had at least two other licensed medications or therapies for their condition, prior to accessing Mamedica, as prescribed by a GP or other licensed specialist. To be eligible, the patient should have no prior or existing diagnosis of Schizophrenia or Psychosis.
How does the service work?
Upon referral, the client will be asked a series of questions to ensure they are eligible to access treatment. Should a person qualify, a specialist from the team will retrieve their Patient Records from existing NHS portals. Once all existing health records have been received, the patient will then be booked in for an initial consultation, followed by a follow-up consultation the next month, and will then receive their prescribed and bespoke treatment package delivered to their door. Patients can then expect to attend regular, quarterly meetings to monitor and assess the effectiveness of their treatment.
