Cannabis Health Symposium 2025: Key Takeaways Part 1

On Tuesday, November 25, nearly 200 healthcare professionals, patient advocates, cannabis educators, and industry leaders converged on London’s Conway Hall for the inaugural Cannabis Health Symposium. 

The event embodied the UK medical cannabis industry’s collective drive to push beyond its own barriers and reach out to the wider medical community to inform, educate and illuminate cannabis medicine.

A collection of the industry’s best-informed voices explored everything from the endocannabinoid system to the current evidence base and the real-world impact treatment has had, and continues to have, on patients.

With nearly 100 doctors in attendance, 50 of whom had never prescribed medical cannabis before, the day provided a data-rich crash course for clinicians considering prescribing cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs).

More importantly, it extended an open invitation for them to engage with the industry and those whose lives it has changed.

From the outset, the focus centred on bridging the gap between the growing body of evidence and clinical practice, addressing the persistent challenges of NHS integration, and equipping healthcare professionals with the foundational knowledge needed to prescribe safely and effectively.

We’ve laid out our key takeaways from each of the talks throughout the day below.

Sarah Sinclair, editor of Cannabis Health, opened the symposium by reflecting on her vision to bring the medical cannabis community together to this landmark in-person event.

She paid tribute to Hannah Deacon, an instrumental figure in the legalisation of medical cannabis in the UK, co-founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society (MCCS), and a tireless advocate for education and access to cannabis medicine.

“Hannah would have loved to see you all here today. She was passionate about educating doctors and medical professionals, and it’s amazing to see all of you here today. “

Jan Armstrong from the event’s headline sponsors Curaleaf Laboratories, set the tone for the day with a rallying call to action, emphasising that the symposium was about igniting a movement to ensure anyone who could benefit from medical cannabis has access to it.

“Medical cannabis is not a trend; it is a therapeutic revolution, and revolutions require leaders. Let us be those leaders.”

Consultant Neurologist and medical cannabis stalwart Professor Mike Barnes, Chair of the MCCS) delivered the symposium’s first major session, outlining the MCCS Good Practice Guide and addressing variations in clinical standards across the sector.

Current landscape and key statistics

Regulatory challenges

Common misconceptions

Product selection and prescribing

Dosing and formats

Systems and training

Dr Anne Schlag from Drug Science presented a compelling case for the importance of real-world evidence (RWE) in advancing the understanding and acceptance of cannabis-based medicines.

The limitations of RCTs

The UK’s largest registry

PTSD and comorbid depression

Paediatric epilepsy

Advantages of RWE

Regulatory implications

Despite over 60,000 patients now receiving CBPM prescriptions, NHS access remains extremely limited. This panel explored how private clinics and NHS providers can collaborate more effectively.

The two-tier system

Where responsibility lies

NHS prescribing barriers

Individual Funding Requests

Communication failures

Solutions needed

Dr Rowan Thompson delivered an accessible exploration of the endocannabinoid system (ECS), a fundamental component of human physiology that remains absent from UK medical school curricula.

Core ECS components

Retrograde signalling

Why cannabis is not an opioid

Diet and ECS tone

ECS dysregulation across conditions

Individual variability

Beyond symptom control

Education gap

Dr Laura Booi, a social gerontologist and dementia researcher, explored the potential role of cannabis in dementia care, positioning herself as a researcher rather than a prescriber.

The scale of the challenge

Understanding dementia

The preclinical window

Prevention and modifiable risk

Evidence base: promising but thin

Chemical restraint warning

Research priorities