Cannabis medicines available under prescription in the UK are being sold under street-style names such as “Alien Dawg”, “Lemon Skunk” and “Gorilla Glue”.
Campaigners fear the government’s reforms to allow consumption for medical purposes are being exploited for recreational use.
The mother of a severely epileptic patient denied an NHS prescription for cannabis oil has described the change in the law as a “cock-up”, for facilitating the smoking of cannabis while those in genuine need struggle to afford it.
Elaine Levy, who has had to sell her family home to pay the £2,200 monthly cost of her daughter’s drugs, says the reforms have given people a legal route to get high but left the parents of children with intractable epilepsy facing financial ruin.
She said:
