114 patients picked up the phone: Inside the first four months of Releaf Protect legal helpline data
7 min read
Sam North
It’s an ordinary stretch of road. One that you drive down every weekday, usually between 5:15–5:30 pm. You’re simply driving home from work, nothing more, nothing less.
Blue and reds flash in rearview mirror. “I wasn’t speeding. I must have a tail light out, or maybe I forgot to pay the road tax…”
You indicate, pull over, wind down your window, and flash the officer a genuine smile as they approach. They ask all the normal questions first, but then one you weren’t necessarily expecting to be hit with.
“Any drugs or drug paraphernalia in the car?”
Contents
You do, in fact, have something in the car. Your fully legal UK medical cannabis prescription, in its original packaging with your prescription clearly labelled, just as the law states it should be. It’s not drugs, per se, it's all legally prescribed. But it is better to be safe than sorry.
“Medical cannabis? No such thing in this country, mate” is the next thing out the officer's mouth. And unfortunately, even after more than seven and a half years of medical cannabis being a legal treatment option in the UK, this is still a situation that patients find themselves from time to time.
But here’s the difference: In your wallet, you have your Releaf medical cannabis card, and another very helpful tool: access to the Releaf Protect legal helpline. One quick call, and you’re connected through to a trained legal professional from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors who can fully explain your rights, what you should and should not say or do, and help guide you through the situation in the safest way possible. 24/7, 365 days a year.
114 calls in four months: what the data shows
In the first four months of Releaf Protect being implemented, 114 patients called through for advice. Not always concerning driving or road laws, but a wide range of everyday happenings. Where the law, their workplace, or the wider system was at best simply uneducated, and at worst openly discriminatory towards a legal Releaf medical cannabis patient.
Those 114 calls equated to 1,638 minutes of legal advice. That is more than 27 hours of patients needing help, needing guidance, needing someone in their corner when the surrounding system did not understand the law, or potentially tried to apply it incorrectly.
The average call lasted just shy of 15 minutes, which shows that these situations are not always the easiest to resolve. They are complex, often involving multiple parties, layered questions of law or policy, and a patient just like you who is surprised that they seem to understand the law better than the person asking the questions.
What did our patients need help with?
Three categories accounted for seven out of ten of all calls to Releaf Protect.
|
Category |
Calls |
% of total |
|
Employment |
33 |
29% |
|
Criminal Litigation |
26 |
23% |
|
Driving related issues |
25 |
22% |
|
Insurance |
13 |
11% |
|
Consumer |
6 |
5% |
|
Civil Litigation |
4 |
4% |
|
State of Administration and Justice |
3 |
3% |
|
Family and Personal |
2 |
2% |
|
International |
1 |
1% |
|
Unclassifiable |
1 |
1% |
The top three categories account for a whopping 84 of the 114 calls, almost three-quarters of every call placed in the first four months since Releaf Protect was first offered to patients. While every situation differs, there is a thread that connects them all. That is, medical cannabis legality awareness still has a long way to come.
Employment: when your prescription becomes a workplace problem
With an average call time of 16.3 minutes across the 33 calls focused on workplace issues and legal medical cannabis, this category was not just the largest, but also the one with the longest calls. And it’s not a huge surprise, with it being such a complex area.
The calls covered a range of workplace issues: questions about employment contracts, disciplinary processes, sick pay, and in some cases, concerns that may fall under the Equality Act 2010, which protects employees from discrimination linked to a disability and the medical treatments prescribed to manage it.
With access to Releaf Protect, patients had the time, space, and correct information to fully understand their rights and their options before deciding on any next step.
Courts, roadsides, and the gap between law and practice
The other two categories that make up the top three tell a very similar, somewhat intertwined story. Criminal litigation accounted for 26 calls, with driving related issues just one less at 25 calls.
Together, that is 51 calls, or just under 50% of all the patients who were reaching out for support in situations where they were potentially dealing with a justice system that did not quite understand the nuances of medical cannabis in the UK.
Apart from having Releaf Protect there to support them, the reassuring part is that the law itself is on your side. While driving impaired is still against the law, and will rightfully remain so, the Section 5A statutory medical defence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 may protect patients who are driving while lawfully taking their prescribed medication as directed.
It is even more clear when it comes to simply possessing and carrying your prescribed Releaf medical cannabis. As long as you are carrying your prescription in its original packaging with the prescription label still clearly readable, you're totally within your rights to have it on you.
What happens if the prescription label is scuffed?
That’s when the Releaf medical cannabis card really comes into its element…
How is Releaf helping to close the gap between law and understanding?
A fair bit, and that work is ongoing. In partnership with Glass Pharms, Rupa Shah, our Chief Legal & Compliance Officer, has been working directly with UK police forces, running educational workshops for police forces across the country that explain the entire process along with all the relevant legislation.
We asked Rupa to explain her continuing work helping authorities understand the ‘ins and outs’ of UK medical cannabis:
“Our early workshops with police forces has now developed into wider conversations around how medical cannabis patients are treated in practice. I was recently invited to present to the National Police Chiefs’ Council National Substance Misuse Working Group, where we discussed the importance of approaching legitimate medical cannabis patients as patients first, rather than automatically as suspects.
It's clear from these discussions that the issue is very rarely the law itself. Medical cannabis has been legal on prescription in the UK for 8 years and the legal framework is already established, so the real challenge is actually the inconsistency in how that framework is understood and applied during day-to-day frontline interactions.
And that’s precisely why we introduced Releaf Protect - to help close the gap between legislation, operational understanding, and patient experience, so patients can feel more confident and better supported in everyday situations.”
Releaf Protect: You are never on your own
While the law may very well be on your side as a medical cannabis patient in the UK, it might not always feel that way. Awareness has taken a huge leap over the past 18 to 24 months, but there is still a way to go.
And while that catching up happens, Releaf Protect is there to make sure you have all the information and support you need, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round.
So, should you ever find yourself in the unfortunate situation where someone says to you, “Medical cannabis? No such thing in this country, mate”, you’ll know exactly what to do, and who to call.
Releaf - let’s rethink healthcare
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It is important to seek medical advice before starting any new treatments. The patient advisors at Releaf are available to provide expert advice and support. Alternatively, click here to book a consultation with one of our specialist doctors.
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