Medicinal cannabis contributed to the death of a man with a history of mental ill-health, a coroner has concluded.
HM Coroner Catherine McKenna was satisfied that a private prescription for the drug by Curaleaf Clinic — which manufactures and distributes medicinal cannabis — played a part in the death by suicide of 34-year-old Oliver Robinson.
Welcoming the Coroner’s verdict, Mr Robinson’s brother Alexander said: “You trust doctors and health providers to first do no harm, but it seems to me that in Oliver’s case profit was prioritised.”
‘Drug dealers’
Reporting on the inquest findings, family representative Farleys Solicitors said the Coroner had been satisfied that the prescription gave the drug “a sense of legitimacy” to Oliver, hindered him from engaging with his NHS mental health team, and played a part in him taking his own life.
The legal firm questioned the ethics of “medicinal cannabis prescribers”, observing that Curaleaf had supplied the drug “to a vulnerable individual with known addictive behaviours”.
Commenting on the outcome, King’s College Hospital psychiatrist Professor Sir Robin Murray said: “These clinics are nothing more than drug dealers for the middle classes. What is happening is not what the legislation hoped to achieve – it has become a money-making business.”
The case is thought to be the first in which a prescription of medicinal cannabis has been found to contribute to a death.
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