The government is looking for a community pharmacy to provide an import and dispensing service locally for cannabis-based medicinal products (CBMP).

The government says this means that patients with private prescriptions will be able to access products on-island through ‘a quality assured and accredited dispensary process’.

The Department of Health and Social Care is seeking someone to operate the scheme as a pilot for a minimum of 12 months.

A public consultation in 2019 showed support for the idea of providing a route for patients to obtain cannabis based medicinal products on prescription and this is the next stage in the journey of enabling this in the island.

Island residents seeking CBMP will need to do so via a private prescription from a private clinic in the UK or Crown Dependencies.

At this time, prescriptions for any CBMP will not be available from the department or Manx Care, as the NHS in the island doesn’t routinely fund non-NICE approved treatments. Residents will pay for these private prescriptions.