What is the process to get a medical cannabis prescription?

Getting a prescription is a clinical pathway, not a purchase. This guide walks through each stage as UK clinics actually run it, including the parts patients most often get stuck on.

The process at a glance

Five stages, in order: an eligibility check, gathering your medical records, a specialist consultation, the clinical decision, and — if treatment starts — follow-up review. Only a specialist can complete stage four.

1. Eligibility check. A short set of questions, free, a few minutes. Triage only — it cannot approve you.
2. Medical records. Your GP record or a detailed summary is shared with the clinic, with your consent.
3. Specialist consultation. A video appointment with a doctor on the GMC Specialist Register.
4. Clinical decision. The specialist decides whether a trial of treatment is appropriate for you.
5. Prescription and follow-up. If issued, the prescription goes to a registered pharmacy, and review appointments are scheduled.

Stage 1: the eligibility check

An online questionnaire covering your condition, your diagnosis, treatments you have already tried and basic safety questions. It exists to save you the cost of a consultation that could not succeed.

Be accurate rather than optimistic. Overstating a treatment history to get past a screening question only moves the problem to the consultation, where the specialist will see your records anyway.

Stage 2: your medical records

This is where most applications stall. Start it early — ideally at the same time as the eligibility check, not after.

Your options:

• The NHS App or your NHS account — the quickest way to view and share a summary of your GP record in England.
• A subject access request to your GP practice — free under UK GDPR, with up to one month to respond.
• Letting the clinic request them for you — many will, with your written consent, though it does not always speed things up.

What the specialist is looking for: your diagnosis, the medicines you have been prescribed and at what doses, other treatments such as physiotherapy or talking therapies, your other conditions and current medicines, and any relevant mental-health or substance-use history.

Stage 3: the specialist consultation

Usually a video appointment of around 20 to 45 minutes with a doctor on the GMC Specialist Register — the only doctors who may start this treatment in the UK.

Expect them to go through your diagnosis and history, what you have tried and what happened, how symptoms affect your daily life, your other medicines and any interaction risks, your mental-health history, your alcohol and drug history, and practical matters including driving, work and childcare. They should also explain the likely side effects and how treatment would be monitored.

Stage 4: the clinical decision

The specialist decides whether a trial of treatment is clinically appropriate for you. Some clinics also refer cases to a multidisciplinary team review, particularly complex ones.

There are three realistic outcomes. Treatment is offered as a monitored trial with a defined review point. Treatment is deferred, pending more information — missing records, a formal diagnosis, or a standard treatment that has not yet been properly tried. Or treatment is declined, with an explanation and, ideally, a discussion of alternatives.

If a prescription is issued it will be for a Schedule 2 controlled drug, which brings specific legal requirements — including that the prescription is valid for 28 days from the date it is signed. What happens next is covered in How medical cannabis is dispensed and delivered.

Stage 5: follow-up and repeat prescriptions

Starting treatment is the beginning of a monitored process, not the end of one. Early follow-ups are usually frequent, then settle into a regular review.

Follow-ups exist to check whether the treatment is doing what you both agreed it should, to manage side effects, to adjust the plan, and to decide whether to continue. Each repeat prescription is a fresh clinical decision — a specialist has to be satisfied that continuing is right. Treatment that is not working should be stopped, and a good clinician will say so.

Your GP's role

Your GP cannot start this prescription, but they should ideally know about it.

Your GP holds the complete picture of your health and everything else you are prescribed. A Schedule 2 controlled drug that is invisible to them is a genuine safety gap — it is how interactions get missed. Reputable clinics ask your consent to send a treatment summary. It remains your decision, and a clinic should not share anything with your GP without your explicit consent.

What it costs, and what cannot be published

Clinics publish their own consultation and service fees. They cannot lawfully publish the price of any medicine.

Regulation 284 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 prohibits advertising prescription-only medicines to the public, and regulation 279 prohibits advertising unlicensed medicines at all. MHRA guidance for providers offering medicinal treatment services is explicit that mentioning prescription-only medicines — including their prices — on a public-facing page is likely to be treated as advertising them. So medication costs are quoted to you privately, by the pharmacy, if a prescription is issued.

What you can reasonably ask any clinic before you book: the initial consultation fee, follow-up fees, any annual or membership charges, what a repeat prescription costs to issue, and a realistic estimate of the total annual cost of staying in treatment.

Warning signs in a clinic

Some things should make you stop and reconsider.

• A guarantee that you will be approved, or a "no prescription, no fee" promise that makes approval the product.
• No request for your medical records.
• Named products, brands, strains or THC percentages advertised publicly — that is not permitted in the UK.
• No CQC registration (or the equivalent regulator in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland).
• Pressure to decide quickly, countdown timers, or discounts on medicines.
• No clear follow-up plan, or no named clinician.

You can check a doctor on the GMC's public register, a clinic on the CQC's website, and a pharmacy on the GPhC register. All three are free and take a minute.

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