Two medicines derived from the cannabis plant have been recommended for use on the NHS for the first time.
Epidyolex has been approved for two rare types of epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet syndromes, while the spray Sativex has been recommended for muscle spasms in multiple sclerosis (MS).
Charities welcomed the move, but said thousands of other people with a range of conditions who could benefit from cannabis-based medicines were left in limbo.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has ruled out prescribing drugs containing THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) – the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis – to treat chronic pain.
It also said more research was needed on cannabis-based medicines to treat forms of epilepsy other than Lennox-Gastaut and Dravet.
More at Sky News (UK) https://news.sky.com/story/cannabis-based-drugs-to-help-epilepsy-and-ms-approved-for-nhs-use-11859209