Three medicines have been approved, including Epidyolex, a highly purified liquid containing a cannabis extract, CBD, for a rare form of epilepsy.
‘Whole plant’ treatments have not been approved in the UK before, unlike in other countries including Germany, Canada, Israel and Australia.
Tony Samios, from private firm LVL Health, which is running the trial, told The Times the cannabis could be rolled out on the NHS ‘within the next few years’.
The trial, called Canpain, will run for the next three years and is open to patients aged 18 to 85 who have been diagnosed with non-cancerous chronic pain.