It’s fair to say my patients were using cannabis long before I knew it was a “thing”.

My first memory of encountering the drug was a decade ago at the bedside of a dying patient. I was about to commence a morphine infusion when a burly man quietly asked me to step outside. Moments later, my apprehension turned to surprise when, tears streaming down his face, the son begged me to wait while his brother procured some cannabis from an underground supplier, “just in case it works”.

“Works for what?” I asked, surprised.

“As a cure for cancer,” he stammered.

My heart melting, I counselled the son that nothing would rescue his actively dying father who deserved to die with dignity. Shortly afterwards, the inevitable happened but I vividly recall the fervour with which the son believed in cannabis as a cure for cancer.

Today, cannabis is no longer a back-channel substance evoked in hushed tones. Indeed, cancer patients openly ask to access it and expect proper help. Oncologists pride themselves on handling questions about interventions proven and debunked, but when it comes to cannabis, most doctors won’t prescribe it and most hospitals don’t allow it. So the most common attitude patients encounter is “we don’t do that here”, leaving them feeling dismissed, or worse, judged.

Recently, when my elderly patient announced her intention to try cannabis for pain, I hesitated, preferring she try conventional analgesics. Nevertheless, when she insisted, I let her find her own way to an online doctor........

© The Guardian