In November 2023, Xander Robinson’s brother Oliver died, aged 34, while holding a private prescription for medicinal cannabis. In January 2026 a coroner found that the prescription contributed to his death: it enabled a dependency he already had, gave cannabis legitimacy in his mind, obstructed the advice of his NHS and private psychiatrists, and formed part of the causal chain that led to his death.

Summary

“A doctor says I need it”: one family’s account of prescribed cannabis and addiction

In this talk, Xander tells Oliver’s story through his fall into depression, his initial treatments and his medical cannabis prescription later on, and set it against what the evidence shows, about higher-potency cannabis and that prescribing, potency and treatment demand are all rising sharply in the UK.

He will close the session by talking about what his family is asking of regulators through Oliver’s Law, and what they would ask of clinical researchers.