About CannaCheck UK
Independent information for UK patients navigating legal medical cannabis access. No clinic. No sales pitch. No agenda.
Why this site exists
When medical cannabis became legal in the UK in November 2018, it should have been straightforward for patients to find out whether they qualified. It was not. The information online was scattered across clinic sales pages, patient forums full of conflicting advice, and NHS pages that acknowledged the law existed but offered little practical help to the average patient.
CannaCheck was built to fill that gap. The name stands for exactly what it does: let patients check whether they might qualify, understand how the process works, and find an honest comparison of the clinics available to them. No agenda. No referral fees. No clinic trying to sign them up mid-article.
Who we write for
The patient who has been living with chronic pain for years and has been told by their GP that nothing more can be done. The person with PTSD who has tried three rounds of therapy and two different medications and still cannot sleep. The parent of a child with treatment-resistant epilepsy who has run out of conventional options. The person who read something about medical cannabis online and cannot work out whether it applies to them.
These are the people this site is for. The information is written at a level that is actually useful: detailed enough to help patients have informed conversations with prescribers, plain enough that no medical background is required.
What you will find here
Every section starts from the same question: what does a UK patient actually need to know?
- Qualifying conditions — 22 conditions with the evidence base, clinical eligibility criteria, and what UK specialists actually prescribe for each
- UK clinic reviews — honest comparisons of all 9 licensed UK prescribers, including real pricing, strengths, and limitations — not marketing copy
- Patient guides — 22 detailed guides on costs, driving, travel, employment, the consultation process, flower versus oil, and more
- How to get a prescription — the six-step process explained simply, from first eligibility check to pharmacy delivery
- Patient FAQ — 25 of the most common questions, answered without jargon
- UK cannabis law — what changed in 2018, what it means in practice, and why most NHS patients still pay privately
- UK cities — which clinics have physical locations across 17 cities, and which operate fully online
How we keep information accurate
Medical cannabis prescribing in the UK is still relatively new, and the landscape changes quickly. Clinics open, change their pricing, and update their services. NICE guidance is reviewed. New clinical evidence emerges. We review and update pages regularly and include a Last reviewed date on all clinical content.
Our information is based on publicly available NICE guidance, NHS documentation, published clinical research, and direct review of clinic information pages. Where we cite specific facts — consultation costs, waiting times, legal thresholds — we source them from the most current authoritative information available.
We do not treat patient testimonials as clinical evidence, and we do not make efficacy claims that go beyond what the published literature supports. If a treatment is promising but unproven, we say so. If an NHS pathway is extremely rare in practice, we say that too.
No commercial interests — and why that matters
A significant portion of the medical cannabis information available in the UK comes from the clinics themselves, or from sites that earn referral income when patients book through them. That creates an obvious incentive problem: the clinic reviewing its own service, or the comparison site that earns more when patients book a more expensive appointment.
CannaCheck has no referral arrangements, affiliate deals, or paid placement with any clinic, pharmacy, or cannabis producer. The clinics listed here are listed because they are licensed UK prescribers — not because they pay for inclusion. If that ever changes, we will say so clearly on this page.
Some pages link to third-party tools such as leafme.co.uk for medication price comparison. These are listed because they are genuinely useful to patients, not because of any commercial relationship.
The editorial approach
Content is written and reviewed with three questions in mind: Is this accurate based on current guidance? Is it useful to a patient making a real decision? And is it honest about what we do not know or cannot predict?
Conditions pages cover the clinical evidence, not the anecdotal. Clinic reviews include limitations alongside strengths. Guides on driving, employment, and travel are explicit about the legal risks involved, not just the practical steps. See our editorial policy for more detail on sources and review process.
Operator information
CannaCheck UK is operated by Avimed Ltd, a company registered in Cyprus with a focus on patient information services. Avimed operates several UK medical information platforms. Nothing on this site constitutes individual medical advice, and eligibility for a prescription is always determined by a licensed UK specialist on an individual clinical basis.
For legal notices, see the medical disclaimer and privacy policy.