Medicinal cannabis prescriptions for 25-year-olds and under (FOI)

​​​​​Request

How many prescriptions for medicinal cannabis have been issued to patients aged 25 and under?  Please break down the number of prescriptions for medicinal cannabis by year.

Response

Detail of the number of prescriptions for medicinal cannabis dispensed in Jersey for 2022, and for the first six months of 2023, have been published in the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensing Audit Report on www.gov.je:

Medicinal Cannabis Dispensing Audit Report (gov.je)​

As this information is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Medicinal cannabis prescription data for July 2023 to December 2023 is not available to report centrally, nor is the age demographic data requested. All prescriptions for medicinal cannabis (other than Sativex, which has been legal for over ten years) are issued by private clinics and dispensed by community pharmacies as private prescriptions. The Chief Pharmacist is notified of all controlled drug prescriptions dispensed. Identifying the data for medicinal cannabis prescriptions would require manual review of all returns. A Scheduled Public Authority is not required to create new datasets nor manipulate existing datasets in order to respond to Freedom of Information requests. Furthermore, the time necessary to identify and extract the data requested from the records that are available would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

No prescription data is held by Customer and Local Services (CLS) for medicinal cannabis, as it is not on the Jersey Prescribed list and information is not held regarding private prescriptions or private clinics. Information on the amounts and types of medicine prescribed is only held by CLS if the medicine is on the Jersey Prescribed List and if it has been prescribed by a primary care prescriber, approved to issue prescriptions under the Health Insurance Law.

Articles applied

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. 

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.​