Medical cannabis if you live in Inverness or the Highlands.

Is there a cannabis clinic or doctor in Inverness?

Not in the way most people expect, and it matters less than you'd think. Almost every clinic works by video, so where a clinic is based makes little difference to the care you get. Only a specialist doctor on the GMC Specialist Register can decide whether a cannabis-based medicine is right for someone, and almost all of them work for clinics that see patients by video, wherever they live. Many people who ask aren't suitable, and that's a doctor's decision.

I'm a nurse based in Inverness, but I'm not a clinic and I don't prescribe. This page explains how the system works from up here.

The clinics that prescribe cannabis-based medicines in the UK are mostly registered in England, a few in Scotland, and most of them work by video. That was common before the pandemic and it's the norm now. So the process is the same in Inverness, Wick, Fort William, Elgin, Stornoway or Kirkwall as it is in Manchester. Consultations are usually by video or phone, and the same checks and rules apply wherever you live.

The one thing you can't do is walk into your local pharmacy. Community pharmacies don't stock these medicines; they come from a small number of specialist pharmacies, by tracked post, from your prescription.

Who regulates what, in Scotland

A clinic based in Scotland is registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland. A clinic based in England is registered with the Care Quality Commission, and it can still see you, because the doctor's registration is UK-wide. The rules on who can prescribe are the same everywhere in the UK: only a doctor on the General Medical Council's Specialist Register can start a prescription, your GP can't, and NHS prescriptions are very rare in Scotland as elsewhere. Almost everyone pays privately. The Scotland guide covers the NHS position, costs and checking a clinic.

How can I check a clinic?

You can check any clinic yourself in a few minutes. Independent clinics based in Scotland must be registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, and you can search its register of providers. Clinics based in England are registered with the Care Quality Commission. You can also check that the prescribing doctor is on the GMC Specialist Register. My free Questions to ask any clinic sheet covers what else to ask.

Getting your records from a Scottish GP practice

Every clinic will ask for a summary of your GP record before your consultation: your diagnoses, your current and past medicines, and recent letters from specialists. In England people often download this from the NHS App. In Scotland it's simpler and slower: ask your GP practice, by phone or in person, for a summary of your record to send to a private clinic. They're used to the request. Asking for your own information is a subject access request. The regulator says organisations usually have one month to respond, so ask early. If you ask by phone or in person, it suggests keeping a record of when you asked and who you spoke to. Upload the whole thing; clinics need every page, with nothing blanked out.

The consultation, from your kitchen table

Video, on your phone or laptop, twenty to forty-five minutes. Find somewhere private with a decent signal, which in some parts of the Highlands means the one corner of the house that works; the clinic will move to a phone call if the connection fails. Have your medicines to hand, a list of what you've tried, and your questions written down. Follow-up reviews happen the same way, a few weeks in and then at regular intervals. For all of this, the full pathway is in the explainer.

Delivery to the Highlands and islands

The pharmacy posts your medicine by tracked, signed-for courier. To mainland Highland addresses that's usually next working day once it's dispatched; to the islands allow an extra day or two, and be aware that some couriers treat Highland postcodes as "remote" with a slightly longer service. Plan repeat prescriptions a week or more ahead rather than waiting until you're nearly out, especially before public holidays and in winter, when the A9 and the ferries have their own ideas. Someone needs to be in to sign, or you can usually nominate a safe place or a neighbour with the courier.

Driving in Scotland

Scotland has had the same drug-driving limits as England and Wales since 2019, including the low limit for THC and the medical defence for people with a legitimate prescription who are taking it as directed and aren't impaired. It matters more up here, where a car is not optional: if you're prescribed a cannabis-based medicine, read the driving guide, keep your prescription evidence in the car, and never drive if you feel any effect. If you're stopped, here's what applies with the police in Scotland.

Work in the Highlands

A lot of Highland work is safety-critical: driving for a living, fishing, forestry, offshore, construction, farming and crofting, care work. Many of these employers test for drugs, and THC from a prescribed medicine looks the same on a test as THC from anywhere else. The work guide covers what to think about and who to tell, and occupational health, where your employer has it, is usually the right door.

New services in the Highlands

Cannabis-based medicine services in Scotland are still growing, and new ones open from time to time. Every independent clinic in Scotland has to be registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, and you can check any service on the HIS register.

If you'd like to hear when something changes for people in the Highlands, sign up below and tick the Highlands box. That might be a new registered service, a change in what NHS Highland offers, or new rules on delivery or driving. I'll send a short, factual note with a link to the official source. You'll also get Thistle Notes, four emails a year. I won't recommend a particular clinic, I won't pass your details to anyone, and you can stop the emails at any time.

A few Highland-specific things

If you're Deaf and want to contact me, I'm fluent in British Sign Language. And if you're in a community where everybody knows everybody, be reassured that nothing about a private prescription is public: the clinic, the pharmacy and the courier see your name, and nobody else does unless you tell them.