Cannabis Health Cannabis Health Magazine

 *This episode contains explicit material from the start*

Welcome back to the second season of the Cannabis Health podcast - What's Your Why?

Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with some of those at the forefront of cannabis to find out why it matters to them

Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.

Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.

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As you'll hear from this extra long episode, Richard Lanigan has an incredible story.

After a starting out as a successful football and fitness coach, Richard trained as a chiropractor and set up his own practice in London and Dublin, even being elected to the General Chiropractic Council.

But in 2011, he was given the devastating diagnosis of rectal cancer. After being given the all clear, in 2013 Richard stunned everyone when he defied the odds to complete a marathon on the Great Wall of China. Months later he found out his cancer had returned and this time he was given just 22 months to live.  Since 2014, Richard has been taking cannabis oil and seven years later, is still going strong.

Here, he reflects on his life so far, including how he dealt with his cancer diagnosis and his first experiences with cannabis.


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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK.  Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants. 
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants. 

Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale

Welcome back to the second season of the Cannabis Health podcast - What's Your Why?

Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with some of those at the forefront of cannabis to find out why it matters to them

Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.

Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.

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Like most of us, Guy Coxall first discovered cannabis as a teenager, but while he thought he was using recreationally, it was actually helping him to manage the symptoms of his mental health conditions. Guy went on to train in natural therapies, setting up his own successful practice and becoming a college lecturer, before he discovered the potential of CBD and cannabinoids.

Guy is one of the founding members of the Cannabis Trades Association (CTA), where he served as compliance director, as well as setting up the UK's hemp think tank, HempTank UK, of which he is chair. Guy left the CTA after deciding he needed to take a different approach and launched the Seed Our Future campaign. He has published a number of reports highlighting the injustice of UK cannabis laws and supported several patients facing criminalisation for medical use. 

He talks to Hannah and Mike about his journey in cannabis so far, overcoming prohibition and why he won't give up fighting the good fight.
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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK.  Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants. 
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants. 

Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale

Welcome back to the second season of the Cannabis Health podcast - What's Your Why?

Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with some of those at the forefront of cannabis to find out why it matters to them

Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.

Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.

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Jamie Bartley, aka 'Mr Hemp', had a short-lived career in professional rugby, followed by a stint running a pub at the age of just 18, and then heading up a team of 45, running a ski resorts in France.

When he returned to the UK and began work in the construction sector, he started researching the benefits of Hemp for soil decontamination. That's when he began to realise the vast potential of the plant and its role in the impending climate crisis. 

Jamie founded Unyte in 2018, a group of companies leading the drive to decarbonise the agricultural, construction and energy sectors, utilising Hemp as the solution. He is also chair of the Cannabis Industry Council's Hemp subgroup.

He reveals why he's pushing for reform to Government legislation around industrial hemp, and why losing a friend to alcohol poisoning led to him becoming an advocate for cannabis.
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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK.  Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants. 
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants. 

Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale

*This episode contains strong language from the beginning*

Welcome back to the second season of the Cannabis Health podcast - What's Your Why?

Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with some of those at the forefront of cannabis to find out why it matters to them

Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.

Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.

---
After being educated at Eton, the private school famed for producing politicians and future  prime ministers, John Green decided Oxford wasn't for him and was carving a career as a successful DJ, when his mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

There began John's journey with cannabis. Seeing the medicinal properties of the plant first-hand, led to John to become a prominent campaigner. He set up Medical Marijuana UK, an online support group and community, through which he has helped dozens of patients to access medical cannabis.

John, Hannah and Mike discuss the state of medical cannabis access in the UK, the different approaches to improving this and what activists can learn from each other to make things better for everyone.
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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK.  Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants. 
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants. 

Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale

*This episode contains some strong language from the beginning*

Welcome back to the second season of the Cannabis Health podcast - What's Your Why?

Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with some of those at the forefront of cannabis to find out why it matters to them

Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.

Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.

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Carly Barton is one of the most prominent medical cannabis activists in the UK.  She was the first person in the UK to receive a prescription privately since the law change in 2018 and has since worked tirelessly with government organisations in order to progress NHS prescriptions. 

A former lecturer in the Arts, she has exhibited work at the Tate and the Saatchi gallery. After having to give up her role due to health problems, she discovered medical cannabis was not only an appropriate, but more effective substitute for opioids to treat her fibromyalgia and post-stroke neuropathy.

In 2020 she launched Cancard, a collaborate project that has seen her connect high level police forces, doctors, patients and MPs on a scheme that reduces the fear 1.1 million cannabis consumers have around interference from the police.

Carly talks to Mike and Hannah about the impact of having a life-changing health scare in her early 20s, overcoming her own stigma about cannabis and why she's determined to improve things for other patients in the UK.
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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK.  Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants. 
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants. 

Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale

Welcome back to the second season of the Cannabis Health podcast - What's Your Why?

Medical cannabis experts and advocates, Hannah Deacon and Professor Mike Barnes, sit down with some of those at the forefront of cannabis to find out why it matters to them

Join Hannah and Mike as they discover how cannabis has changed their guest’s lives, what makes them tick, why they do what they do and what they think needs to improve for patients.

Forget graphs and commercial outlooks and expect open, honest conversations with those at the heart of the issue.

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Our first guest, Peter Carroll, is an award winning public affairs campaigner, widely credited as the architect of Joanna Lumley’s Gurkha Justice campaign and one of the founders of the UK’s most successful fuel taxation campaign. But most listeners will know him for his work campaigning for medical cannabis as the driving force behind lobby group, End Our Pain.

As co-founder of Tendo Consulting Peter was instrumental in the campaign to change the law in November 2018 and continues to fight for NHS access on behalf of the families of those children with severe epilepsy whose lives have been transformed by cannabis-based medicines.
Peter always knew he wanted to be involved in politics somehow, but he took a very unconventional route. Here he gives us a glimpse behind closed doors from his time as special advisor in HM Treasury and reveals why he feels optimistic about improving access to medical cannabis in the UK.
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Hannah helped change the law in 2018 after her successful campaign to enable her epileptic son Alfie Dingley to be legally prescribed cannabis medicines. She continues to help other families access medical cannabis in the UK.  Hannah is also a director of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society and Maple Tree Consultants. 
Mike obtained the first medical cannabis license in the UK for Alfie. He has been involved in the efforts to assist many others and is founder of the Medical Cannabis Clinicians Society along with Maple Tree Consultants. 

Edited by Sarah Sinclair
Artwork by Sophie Dinsdale