For many patients, the hardest part of accessing medical cannabis isn't the cost or the paperwork. It's the way they're treated when they do.
The stigma gap
Despite the law change in 2018, a significant gap remains between what the law permits and what many healthcare professionals understand about cannabis as medicine. Patients regularly report encountering scepticism, dismissal, or outright hostility when discussing their treatment with GPs or other healthcare providers.
Transplant patients at risk
One of the most concerning findings in recent reporting has been the treatment of medical cannabis patients within the transplant system. There have been documented cases of patients being removed from transplant waiting lists or denied referrals because of their cannabis-based treatment — despite there being no clinical evidence to justify such decisions.
What needs to change
Stigma in healthcare isn't solved by policy changes alone. It requires education, training, and a genuine cultural shift in how medical professionals understand cannabis. Patient advocacy groups are pushing for mandatory training on cannabis-based medicines for all healthcare professionals — a change that would benefit both patients and the clinicians who treat them.
