I suffer from chronic pain but using medical cannabis has been an eye-opener
Having grown tired of the “extreme” side effects of traditional pain killers, Brendan Burton searched for alternative solutions to the pain he has suffered for 48 years.
The 64-year-old retired probation officer from Portsmouth found Releaf, a UK medical cannabis clinic, in September 2025 and decided to sign up for a consultation. Six month on and Brendan claims that it has had “huge transformation” on his life.
When he was 16-years-old he was diagnosed with a degenerative spinal condition called Scheuermann's disease. At the time it hampered him as he worked through a physical apprenticeship.
Brendan said: “You get a kind of scoliosis and it was putting a lot of pressure on my spine while I was working.”
Ever since then he has had various types of traditional pain relief medication and while some of them made a positive difference, they also came with a downside.
He said: “I'd always been on and off pain relief because that's the only thing that was provided. There was extreme side effects, you can't think. I couldn't think as clearly as I should have been able to while I was taking them.”
Following the consultation with Releaf last year, he was prescribed with cannabis flower via a vaporiser, the legal method of taking the drug in the UK as smoking remains prohibited. Brendan claims that it has made a big difference in helping him manage his symptoms and has allowed him to get out and do things that he had not imagined he would be able to do.
He said: “They were able to start to relieve the pain and give me some rest at night. Generally speaking, it’s been a huge transformation. I'm able to get out and about and go on walks. Since I've started using the medicine I've got a bicycle, and I can cycle… it's fantastic.”
Brendan has said he not experienced stigma around the use of medicinal cannabis and just views it as a way of managing his condition. Having not known what to expect ahead of his consultation he said the experience “was a bit of an eye-opener for me”.
The NHS only offers medical cannabis on prescription to a very small number of patients, those with a rare and severe form of epilepsy, adults with vomiting or nausea caused by chemotherapy, or people with muscle stiffness and spasms caused by multiple sclerosis.
On the NHS website it states that there is some evidence that medical cannabis can help with certain types of pain but the evidence is “not yet strong enough to recommend it for pain relief”.
More information from the NHS on medical cannabis and cannabis oils can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/medicines/medical-cannabis/.
Further information on Releaf can be found at https://releaf.co.uk/.