Need help drafting a letter to the Health Minister.

[Rimmerworld]

Dear MedBud

I wrote to the NI Minister of Health outlining the lack of access on the NHS, My own personal issue on the matter and the wholesale pricing to profit ratio. I recieved a kop out reply passed on to a professor who copy pasted a load of waffle from NICE. They the NI Health Department endorse NICE guidelines and state its not approved for PTSD. And they state go back to your GP and also state that when you go private you acknowledge the costs.


I would like to reply but am struggling. And would ask should i even bother? They are idiots afterall... They the NHS discharged me and ive tried Citalophram Diazapam sertraline each one had bad side effects. I didnt chose to go private like they stated. I require sedation for two nightmares and i need it to help with my weight my BMI should of alerted the NHS but they dont care. I also have two other health conditions and i found my CBPM treats all of them with no side effects. What should i say to them? The part that really needs a proper educational reply is the NICE guidelines and the part where they state PTSD isnt suitable for CBPM which is a lie. It is safe they are just refusing to carry out the trails its been five years and no trials on nightmares sleep BMI PTSD etc have been funded. The guidelines are skewed by the pharamacutcal industry and are biased against a plant so a botanical product is never going to get approval.


I want to ask them to set up trials, And set up a fund for access. Unlike England NI has no form you can fill in for NHS assitance the first person on the NHS list for flower could not of even made his application in NI as there is no such system. Arghhhhh i hate my Goverment.

 

[Muiredach]

Please excuse me for coming back to you late in the day, this is a pretty in-depth topic overall. I'll find the time to write a full reply soon as I can.

 

[Rimmerworld]

Please excuse me for coming back to you late in the day, this is a pretty in-depth topic overall. I'll find the time to write a full reply soon as I can.

I need a new phone to ask chat gpt to make a million word reply and send that every month. But im tempted to not even reply. They would simply ignore it. I dont want to unjustly burden you from MedBud duties an opinion would suffice for now. This is something ill come back to in a few months my life has other pressing matters at the minute i thought it no harm to send them an email but they did not respond to many of my issues. Overall it is to me pretty poor Goverance.

 

[BudWarrior]

It will nearly always come back to NICE.

Getting NICE reviews that push against the grain of medical ignorance has proven to be stratospherically difficult in all fields (almost unprecedented). Seen it in real-time in person at the highest levels, but it never appears that way from the outside. Because people assume medic = scientist, when it does not. Sadly medics' self Image also makes that dangerous assumption, usually. Often because of their statistical understanding goes out the window and they can't see beyond the end of their own noses.

That's without it being cannabis. Any smell of politics/"narcotics" is just a cherry on top... add to that that the scientific evidence is incomplete. Very sensible logical conclusions from patients or ongoing research are therefore more easily ignored by the blinkered.

The profession is very conservative, even in situations where they desperately fight for normal practice versus scientific consensus. And if the medical profession feels uncomfortable with any refreshed NICE guidelines that are driven by consistent consensus science, the profession does have a track record of pulling out the stops to sabotage, obfsuscate and keep standards diluted. Often even descending into anti science nonsense, revealing embarrassing basic inabilities to even count numbers properly when having formal policy discussions. That's even where any conservative risk assessment screams massive danger from normal medic behavior. You don't see that in the press releases that polish those issues out...

Not just about NI. Also applies doubly to GPs anywhere on the planet, either directly or analogously. Cos the broader the prescribing power, the greater the assumption of staying with the status quo.

 

[Rimmerworld]

It will nearly always come back to NICE.

Getting NICE reviews that push against the grain of medical ignorance has proven to be stratospherically difficult in all fields (almost unprecedented). Seen it in real-time in person at the highest levels, but it never appears that way from the outside. Because people assume medic = scientist, when it does not. Sadly medics' self Image also makes that dangerous assumption, usually. Often because of their statistical understanding goes out the window and they can't see beyond the end of their own noses.

That's without it being cannabis. Any smell of politics/"narcotics" is just a cherry on top... add to that that the scientific evidence is incomplete. Very sensible logical conclusions from patients or ongoing research are therefore more easily ignored by the blinkered.

The profession is very conservative, even in situations where they desperately fight for normal practice versus scientific consensus. And if the medical profession feels uncomfortable with any refreshed NICE guidelines that are driven by consistent consensus science, the profession does have a track record of pulling out the stops to sabotage, obfsuscate and keep standards diluted. Often even descending into anti science nonsense, revealing embarrassing basic inabilities to even count numbers properly when having formal policy discussions. That's even where any conservative risk assessment screams massive danger from normal medic behavior. You don't see that in the press releases that polish those issues out...

Not just about NI. Also applies doubly to GPs anywhere on the planet, either directly or analogously. Cos the broader the prescribing power, the greater the assumption of staying with the status quo.

One of the main things that enters my head with the Goverment is they said Cannabis had no Medical use until 2018. And now its the NICE guidelines that in another ten or twenty will be equally mocked. Yet they cling on to the same peoples advice with a track record of lying to the general public.

 

[S Krammerhead III Jr]

In response to your original ask @Rimmerworld, could I please stress the argument of cost/benefit?

I've lost count of the treatments/medication I've tried for migraines - some NHS, some private.. some private that later became available on the NHS. My experience with my NHS neurologist is that the local NHS funding authority very much approve based on cost/benefit.. this has meant I've waited a year or more before new NICE approved treatment is deemed cost effective and therefore prescribable. It was clear that each of the different options available (botox, injections, tablet form.. all from different drug companies) would price themselves to be competitive, hence the delay while the local NHS have a more difficult decision to make vs having a widespread price difference which results in "no brainer" decisions.

Do you think there is a strong argument that prices medical cannabis favourably against other prescribed medication/treatments/clinical care etc.?

 

[Rimmerworld]

In response to your original ask @Rimmerworld, could I please stress the argument of cost/benefit?

I've lost count of the treatments/medication I've tried for migraines - some NHS, some private.. some private that later became available on the NHS. My experience with my NHS neurologist is that the local NHS funding authority very much approve based on cost/benefit.. this has meant I've waited a year or more before new NICE approved treatment is deemed cost effective and therefore prescribable. It was clear that each of the different options available (botox, injections, tablet form.. all from different drug companies) would price themselves to be competitive, hence the delay while the local NHS have a more difficult decision to make vs having a widespread price difference which results in "no brainer" decisions.

Do you think there is a strong argument that prices medical cannabis favourably against other prescribed medication/treatments/clinical care etc.?

I honestly dont know much about the costs. But i do know the potential costs should be very low for some and higher for others. An example would be if i was given a grow certificate i could completely disengage from my clinic and NHS and save everyone time. Or they could negoiate a price on flowers and oils. Theres a 100% profit margin on some flowers were hearing so deduct that from the price versus traditional medicines.

Personally i think there should be a NHS/Not for profit clinic and pharmacy.

 

[MigraineMan]

Personally i think there should be a NHS/Not for profit clinic and pharmacy.

Richard Branson also thought the company running the lottery shouldn't make a profit but that didn't stop camelot getting the deal. There is only one consideration for the UK government, profit.

They have banged the drum for decades on the dangers of cannabis and now they let a bunch of untrained people with no knowledge or experience dictate what we should and shouldn't consume.

Unfortunately, by allowing even one not for profit they will totally screw their existing cash cow as nobody is going to pay a premium for a sub standard service.

We are stuck with this model for the foreseeable, I'm debating joining my sister in Germany, whilst they haven't exactly nailed it they are at least trying to take the profiteering out of it.

 

[Rimmerworld]

Richard Branson also thought the company running the lottery shouldn't make a profit but that didn't stop camelot getting the deal. There is only one consideration for the UK government, profit.

They have banged the drum for decades on the dangers of cannabis and now they let a bunch of untrained people with no knowledge or experience dictate what we should and shouldn't consume.

Unfortunately, by allowing even one not for profit they will totally screw their existing cash cow as nobody is going to pay a premium for a sub standard service.

We are stuck with this model for the foreseeable, I'm debating joining my sister in Germany, whilst they haven't exactly nailed it they are at least trying to take the profiteering out of it.

I agree thankyou for taking the time to reply. What they said about NICE guidelines is a shifting goalpost. Then the liars retire and no ones held to account for being wrong or lies. Not only will i stand by a not for profit clinic as being essential, I will say there should belaws against people in Health who get it wrong. So the liars in the NHS and NICE should of faced a criminal trial and the Goverment when they reclassified Cannabis.