Carly Barton, from Brighton, is the first person in UK to receive a cannabis prescription. The patient who suffers constant pain from fibromyalgia following a stroke in her 20s was given the prescription by a private doctor who specialises in pain management.
Medical use of cannabis was legalized last month in Uk. However, the NHS is not funding the treatment, so user will have to pay for its use. Carly Barton is thus expected to pay about £2,500 for the prescribed three months' treatment herself.
She hopes that by showing that it is helping her chronic pain, it could "open the floodgates" for the government to decide to pay for the treatment for herself and others.
"In terms of money this is going to cost me everything I have, so two and a half grand for three months' supply," she said in a Facebook video.
"The reason I'm putting this on the line is I feel this is a route to getting an NHS prescription."
The drug is having to be imported from the Netherlands and Ms Barton is unsure when she will be able to collect her medication - which consists of two flower-based cannabis products. She will take a gramme of each product every day.
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