Welcome to MC Friendly
Our mission is to promote and share safe, welcoming environments where patients feel supported, their rights are respected, and venue teams are empowered to develop a confident understanding of UK law relating to prescribed medicinal cannabis.
Use of the website, locating venues as well as venue registration is entirely free of charge and this will remain core to our ethos as our community grows.
MC Friendly’s creation was fired up and driven by experiencing real world stigma following becoming a medicinal cannabis patient for chronic pain in 2024. This resulted in difficulty and unease simply trying to get on with the day. These experiences were at times challenging, though led to some very interesting conversations, acceptance (or not) and learning the level of positive change that can be achieved through respectful and open communication.
The realisation that nearing 100,000 patients (2025) across the UK were likely having similar or even more challenging experiences could simply no longer be ignored, and so here we are today, connecting and supporting people and places every day across the country.
Our community is you, and by onboarding your own local venues, you can be a part of modern society realigning with acceptance of positive cannabis use. Formal registration must be completed by the venue owner/proprietor or appropriate staff member only, though polite conversation with venue teams is hugely welcomed and beneficial to all, working in a ‘pay it forward’ approach. Our feedback suggests this often leads to your favourite local venues becoming registered and MC Friendly! For venues that are already welcoming you, gifting them an emblem and asking them nicely to register is the next logical step and can be transformative for both you and your favourite venues :)
We wholly understand that venues are likely to have specific preferences or conditions of use whilst on site to enable the smooth running of their business. This can be specified in the ‘cannect’ map modal providing clarity for guests before they arrive, saving time for all. Guests are asked to always fully respect each venue’s preferences and conditions. These will differ from venue to venue, so if they haven’t been checked online before a visit, they should be checked with staff upon arrival. This commitment from people and places is essential to the success of the MC Friendly community in ending UK stigma around medicinal cannabis.
Support and advice for venue teams is a central part of our service, providing guidance around current law and patient rights. Although UK law already protects patient rights for prescribed medication use wherever and whenever is required under the Equality Act 2010, the key protections explain the detail around how patient rights meet venue adherence.
The reality for many is that venue staff and members of the public often aren’t aware of the current situation, leading to stigmatised responses that don’t uphold patient’s medical and legal rights.
We host and support cafe’s, restaurants, bars, barbers, salons, pubs, retreats, holiday lets, shops and more. In fact if you have a venue of any kind open to the public, then you can become MC Friendly!
Read on for a little history and some further information…
Cannabis and us..
Cannabis is a plant and herb native to various regions of the planet, having likely first evolved on the Tibetan plateau some 28 million years ago. Humans are known to have used cannabis for medicine, textiles, food, fuel, ritual and pleasure for around 12 thousand years.
The possession and supply of cannabis were made illegal in the UK in 1928 following a global push for criminalisation led by the USA (which is another subject all together worth learning about if you haven’t already. This followed a period of widely available cannabis based products prescribed through the Victorian era and beyond including tinctures, pills and extracts taken orally. It was considered a wonder remedy, being antispasmodic as well as being used for insomnia and pain relief.
Prohibition lasted for ninety years between 1928 and 2018 - which is less than 1% of the total time of known human medicinal use! In November 2018, the UK government rescheduled cannabis based products for medicinal use from schedule 1 to schedule 2 of the misuse of drugs regulations, allowing them to be legally prescribed once again. This followed successful government lobbying by a number of parents, who’s incredible dedication towards ensuring the best possible care for their children, led to government recognition of cannabis as a medicine for the first time in nearly a century. This marked the end of prohibition and was essentially the re-legalisation of cannabis for medicinal use.
The current picture..
Eight years on and most agree that the changes in 2018 were a start to begin putting things right. The current system of private prescribing is still establishing however, and although prescription prices have come down, and quality is beginning to improve, there is still a long way to go. A fairer system perhaps would enable access to a basic range of CBPM products via the NHS, enabling access at greatly reduced cost. Additionally, permitting patients to grow their own medicinal cannabis, enabling exact strain choice and full control over how the medicine is produced would be humane and re-establishing of basic human rights around natural remedies. These options could sit alongside the already existing private prescribing clinics, and bring the UK more inline with other progressive nations such as Germany and Canada.
Today’s medicinal cannabis products in the UK are known as CBPM’s - ‘Cannabis Based Products for Medicinal use’. These are almost entirely prescribed privately as an unlicensed medicine by doctors on the General Medical Council’s Specialist Register. Although CBPM’s have been legal to prescribe since November 2018, only a literal handful have been made available via the NHS. This appears largely due to NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) guidelines not keeping pace with actual patient need.
Prescribed medication in the UK is carried and used by millions of people every day. Legal CBPM users are protected by the same laws written into the Equality Act 2010 that are designed to protect all patient’s rights. In the same way that an asthmatic person can use their inhaler, or a diabetic person can administer insulin, this legislation enables patients to carry and use their prescribed medicine in public including indoor environments without fear of arrest or prosecution.
The police in the UK were formally updated by the National Police Chief’s Council via the ‘Medical Cannabis - police guidance and formal policy’ published in February 2025 further protecting patients and now fully implemented.
Administration of all CBPM’s is either by medical vaporisers (which look similar to an inhaler or vape) or ingesting prescribed pastilles or oils in an edible form. Light odours and visible vapour can occur, though this is nowhere near as obvious as when cannabis is smoked or combusted. Legal use of CBPM’s is always smoke free* - combustion of any kind isn’t legal use - even if prescribed!
*Other than government endorsed research - which is included here for accuracy, though remains very rare in occurrence.
It’s a human thing ..
Every one of us has an inbuilt endo-cannabinoid system which extends throughout nearly every organ in the human body. CBPM patient’s have ability to select the right product for their specific situation as CBPM’s offer a unique advantage over many commonly prescribed medications by providing varying strain specific effects and benefits. A further benefit of CBPM’s is the lower risk of negatively impacting side effects in comparison to some other prescribed medicines. More often than not, patients have already experienced these on their journey to becoming an MC patient.
Two of the main cannabinoids found mostly in the flowers or ‘buds’ of the cannabis plant - THC and CBD, have levels that vary greatly in medicinal cannabis products, as do other cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids. This enables patients to select exact strains to ‘dial in’ effects for their own specific health situation. A synergistic function known as the entourage effect means that the positive effects of CBPM components can have a greater positive effect than the sum of their parts, benefitting the patient in the exact way they require to best manage their health and empowering them to be more naturally in touch with their treatment.
CBPM’s can have significant variations in effect, such as boosting energy and focus, as well as the more widely known effects such as pain relief, inflammation reduction, sleep promotion or appetite stimulation. Many patients require non-psychoactive cannabinoids such as CBD and CBN as importantly as THC, using these cannabinoids as part of, or along side their prescriptions. Patients generally quickly adapt to any side effects, and with clinician supported management of their condition, are simply enabled to manage long term conditions, to feel better and to get on with life!
The team at MC Friendly strive to promote full acceptance of responsible legal CBPM use among the wider public. We support the development of a fairer broader system to enable access for more people. We also believe that human rights around cannabis as a natural medicinal plant should be further restored. As the MC Friendly community builds, broader acceptance and understanding will follow. We welcome you on this journey and thank you for being part of this incredible cultural and wellness re-alignment.
Hugh
Founder - MC Friendly