Terms & Conditions

1. INDEPENDENCE FROM MEDICANN

Medicann Patient Support is an independent, patient-led community run by Medicann patients for Medicann patients.

Medicann Patient Support is not owned, operated, managed or controlled by Medicann.

Members of the Patient Support administration and moderation team do not act as employees, clinicians or official representatives of Medicann unless expressly stated otherwise.

Medicann is aware of and supportive of the community, and Patient Support may communicate or collaborate with Medicann where appropriate. This relationship does not make Medicann responsible for the operation, moderation, administration, opinions, activities or user-generated content of Patient Support.

Likewise, information, opinions, experiences or guidance shared by Patient Support administrators, moderators or members must not be treated as statements, clinical advice or official guidance issued by Medicann.

Where Patient Support shares information received directly from Medicann, we will aim to identify this clearly.

Questions about an individual's clinical care, prescription, treatment, consultations, orders, payments, deliveries or other official Medicann services should be directed to Medicann through its official channels.

Patient Support is a community. Medicann is the healthcare provider. They are separate.

2. WHO CAN JOIN

Medicann Patient Support is a private community intended exclusively for:

• people aged 21 or over; and
• current Medicann patients.

Both requirements must be met.

By creating an account, you confirm that you satisfy these eligibility requirements.

Membership is not available to the general public.

Patient Support reserves the right to refuse, restrict or withdraw membership where eligibility cannot be satisfactorily established.

3. PATIENT VERIFICATION

Patient Support operates a patient-verification process to protect the integrity and purpose of the community.

Members may be required to provide evidence demonstrating access to a current Medicann patient-only service or area.

Members should not provide unnecessary personal, identification or medical information during verification. Information that is not required should be cropped, obscured or removed before evidence is submitted.

Verification evidence must not be posted publicly.

Patient Support may change its verification methods where reasonably necessary to maintain the integrity of the community.

Where there are reasonable grounds to question whether an account continues to meet the membership requirements, Patient Support may request re-verification.

Failure or refusal to provide satisfactory verification is not in itself an accusation of wrongdoing. However, because membership is exclusively for Medicann patients, access may be refused or withdrawn where eligibility cannot be established.

4. VERIFIED PATIENT BADGE

Members who successfully complete the Patient Support verification process may receive a Verified Patient badge.

The badge means only that Patient Support has completed its verification process and has been reasonably satisfied that the account holder meets the community's patient eligibility requirements.

A Verified Patient badge does not:

• verify a member's diagnosis;
• verify the details of their prescription;
• verify or endorse their medication;
• confirm the accuracy of anything they post;
• endorse their opinions or recommendations;
• make them a healthcare professional; or
• mean that Medicann endorses their account or content.

Patient Support may remove Verified Patient status or require re-verification where reasonably necessary.

5. THIS IS PEER SUPPORT, NOT MEDICAL ADVICE

Patient Support exists to provide community, peer support, education and the sharing of patient experiences.

Content on the website must not be treated as personalised medical advice, diagnosis or prescribing advice.

Members, administrators and moderators may share their own knowledge and experiences, but individual responses to medicines vary.

A member's experience does not establish what another patient should use, how much they should use, or how they should alter their treatment.

Members should not change prescribed treatment solely because of something they read within the community.

Questions about individual treatment, dosage, interactions, side effects or clinical suitability should be discussed with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

In an emergency, members should use the appropriate emergency medical services.

6. MEMBER RESPONSIBILITY

Members are responsible for the content they publish and for their own decisions and actions.

Members must take reasonable care to ensure that factual claims they make are accurate and should make clear when something represents personal experience or opinion.

Patient Support does not routinely verify every statement made by members.

The presence of content on the website does not mean Patient Support, its administrators, moderators or Medicann endorse or agree with it.

7. COMMUNITY CONDUCT

Members must follow the Community Rules in addition to these Terms & Conditions.

We understand that people within a patient community may sometimes be unwell, tired, frustrated, anxious or in pain.

We also understand that people occasionally post something they later regret.

That does not excuse bullying, harassment, intimidation, discrimination, threats or deliberately abusive behaviour.

Where a conversation becomes heated, members should disengage rather than escalate it and should use the website's reporting tools where appropriate.

Patient Support operates a no-bullying policy.

Members must not retaliate against someone because they have reported content or raised a genuine concern.

8. MODERATION

Patient Support is administered by volunteers.

Administrators and moderators may take reasonable action to protect members, maintain the purpose of the community and enforce these Terms and the Community Rules.

Depending on the circumstances, action may include:

• removing or editing content;
• closing discussions;
• issuing guidance or warnings;
• temporarily restricting an account;
• suspending an account;
• removing badges or privileges; or
• permanently removing an account.

Serious behaviour may result in immediate removal without a previous warning.

Moderation decisions will take account of context where reasonably possible, but Patient Support is not required to allow behaviour that threatens the safety, integrity or operation of the community simply because previous warnings have not been issued.

9. PROHIBITED SALES, TRANSFERS AND SOURCING

Patient Support must not be used to buy, sell, exchange, swap, gift, supply or source prescription cannabis or any other prescription-only medicine between members.

This applies even where both people hold valid prescriptions.

Members must not use private messages, coded posts or other website features to circumvent this rule.

Patient Support must not be used to facilitate unlawful drug supply or other unlawful activity.

Content or accounts used for these purposes may be removed immediately.

10. REPORT A BAD BATCH

The Report a Bad Batch facility exists to record genuine concerns about potentially defective or problematic medicine batches.

It is not a strain review system and should not be used merely because a medicine:

• did not produce the effect a member expected;
• was not personally enjoyable;
• was weaker or stronger than expected without another identifiable quality concern; or
• simply "didn't hit the spot".

Appropriate reports may include genuine concerns involving matters such as suspected contamination, mould, foreign material, packaging defects, unusual product condition, apparent batch inconsistencies or other identifiable quality concerns.

Reports represent the experience and observations of the member submitting them.

Patient Support does not laboratory-test products and does not determine that a medicine or batch is officially defective, contaminated or unsafe.

A report appearing on the website therefore does not amount to a finding by Patient Support, Medicann, a pharmacy, manufacturer or regulator.

Members submitting reports must act honestly and should provide accurate batch information where available.

Patient Support does not pre-judge or routinely approve Bad Batch reports before publication. However, reports may be removed or moderated where they are clearly unrelated to batch quality, abusive, misleading, duplicate, unlawful or otherwise inconsistent with the purpose of the facility.

Members with genuine medicine-quality or safety concerns should also consider reporting them through the appropriate official channels, including the MHRA Yellow Card scheme where applicable.

11. USER-GENERATED CONTENT

Members retain ownership of original content they create.

By posting content to Patient Support, members give Patient Support permission to host, display, reproduce and technically process that content as reasonably necessary to operate, moderate and maintain the community.

This permission does not transfer ownership of the member's content to Patient Support.

Members must only upload material they have the right to share.

Members must not knowingly publish content that:

• infringes another person's copyright or intellectual property;
• unlawfully discloses private or confidential information;
• impersonates another person;
• is fraudulent or deliberately misleading;
• contains unlawful threats or harassment; or
• otherwise breaches applicable law.

12. COMMUNITY CONTENT AND BRANDING

Original Patient Support branding, graphics, educational resources, website copy and other community-created material remain the property of their respective creator or rights holder.

Community materials must not be copied, commercially exploited, falsely attributed or presented as official Medicann material without appropriate permission.

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of Medicann's own trademarks, branding or intellectual property to Patient Support or its members.

13. BUSINESSES, PARTNERS AND PROMOTION

Businesses, services and commercial organisations may not advertise, promote or solicit within Patient Support without prior approval.

Patient Support only permits commercial promotion from businesses or organisations with whom the administration team has established an appropriate relationship or agreement.

No agreement means no promotion.

Approval to promote does not amount to a guarantee, warranty or medical endorsement of a business, service or product.

Members should make their own informed decisions before purchasing goods or services from any third party.

Patient Support may remove unauthorised advertising, affiliate links, promotional posts or commercial solicitation.

14. RELATIONSHIP WITH MEDICANN AND OTHER ORGANISATIONS

Patient Support may maintain relationships, collaborations or affiliations with Medicann and other appropriate organisations.

At the date of these Terms, Patient Support does not receive ongoing funding from Medicann or other commercial organisations for operating the community.

Some operating costs have been met voluntarily by members of the Patient Support team.

This position may change as the community develops.

Where a future commercial relationship, sponsorship, affiliate arrangement or other material benefit is relevant to content presented to members, Patient Support will aim to disclose that relationship appropriately.

Receiving support, products, services, affiliate income, sponsorship or other benefits in future will not automatically transfer control or ownership of Patient Support to that organisation.

15. COMPETITIONS, PRIZE DRAWS AND GIVEAWAYS

Patient Support may occasionally operate competitions, prize draws, giveaways or similar promotions.

Individual promotions may have additional specific rules. Those rules form part of the conditions for that promotion.

Where a promotion is a free prize draw:

• no purchase is required to enter;
• no donation is required to enter;
• members are not required to pay for an entry;
• payment cannot improve a member's chance of winning; and
• winners will not be required to pay Patient Support in order to claim or receive their prize.

Where appropriate, a winner may voluntarily offer to contribute towards postage or delivery costs.

Such a contribution is entirely optional.

Refusing or being unable to contribute towards postage will not prevent a winner from receiving their prize and will not affect their eligibility for current or future promotions.

Voluntary contributions do not purchase additional entries, priority, enhanced odds, rewards or preferential treatment.

Prize draws will be administered using an appropriate fair selection method.

Where a promotion is based on skill, knowledge or judgement rather than chance, its specific rules will explain how entries are judged.

Patient Support may cancel, suspend or amend a promotion where genuinely necessary because of circumstances outside its reasonable control, while taking reasonable steps to avoid unfairly disadvantaging participants.

16. REWARDS, POINTS AND BADGES

The website may provide community points, badges, rankings, achievements or other participation features.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, these:

• have no cash value;
• cannot be exchanged for prescription medicines;
• do not establish clinical authority;
• do not create ownership rights in the website; and
• may be changed, corrected or withdrawn where reasonably necessary.

Members must not manipulate or abuse reward systems.

17. ACCOUNT SECURITY

Members are responsible for keeping their login credentials secure and for activity carried out through their account.

Members should not deliberately share accounts or allow another person to impersonate them.

Suspected unauthorised access should be reported as soon as reasonably possible.

Patient Support may temporarily restrict an account where reasonably necessary to investigate a security concern.

18. ACCOUNT DELETION

Members have control over their own account and may use the website's account-deletion functionality.

Account deletion is intended to be permanent.

Once an account has been deleted, it cannot simply be restored. A person wishing to return to Patient Support will need to create a new account and complete the applicable registration and verification process again.

Deletion of an account does not necessarily mean that every technical record disappears instantaneously. Limited information may remain temporarily in backups, security records or other systems where reasonably necessary or legally required.

Further information about personal data, retention and deletion will be provided in Patient Support's Privacy Policy.

19. PRIVACY AND PERSONAL INFORMATION

Patient Support aims to collect and use only the information reasonably necessary to operate the community.

Members should avoid unnecessarily publishing personal, identification or medical information.

Information submitted through accounts, verification systems, reports or other website functions may constitute personal data and, in some circumstances, sensitive health-related information.

The handling of personal information will be addressed separately in Patient Support's Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy.

These Terms & Conditions do not replace those policies.

20. THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND SERVICES

Patient Support may link to websites, services, businesses, regulators, healthcare organisations or other third-party resources.

A link is provided for convenience or information and does not automatically mean Patient Support controls, guarantees or endorses everything provided by that third party.

Third-party websites and services operate under their own terms and privacy arrangements.

21. WEBSITE AVAILABILITY

Patient Support will make reasonable efforts to maintain the website and community but cannot promise uninterrupted or error-free availability.

Maintenance, hosting problems, technical failures, security incidents or circumstances outside our reasonable control may occasionally interrupt access.

Features may be added, changed or removed as the community develops.

Where a significant change materially affects members, Patient Support will aim to communicate it appropriately.

22. RELIANCE ON COMMUNITY INFORMATION

Patient Support aims to provide useful and responsible information but cannot guarantee that every piece of user-generated or community information will always be complete, accurate or current.

Members should independently verify important medical, legal, regulatory or financial information using an appropriate authoritative source or qualified professional before relying upon it.

Nothing on Patient Support creates a doctor-patient, pharmacist-patient, solicitor-client or other professional relationship between a member and Patient Support.

23. LIMITATION OF RESPONSIBILITY

Nothing in these Terms excludes or restricts responsibility where doing so would be unlawful, including liability that cannot lawfully be excluded for death or personal injury caused by negligence.

Subject to those rights, Patient Support is not responsible for losses caused solely by:

• a member choosing to rely on another member's personal experience as medical advice;
• transactions or arrangements members make independently with third parties;
• unlawful or unauthorised activity by another member;
• external websites or services outside Patient Support's control; or
• circumstances that Patient Support could not reasonably prevent.

Nothing in these Terms removes any statutory rights a member has that cannot legally be excluded.

24. REPORTING CONCERNS

Members are encouraged to report bullying, harassment, prohibited sales, suspicious accounts, serious misinformation, security concerns or other breaches using the website's reporting functions.

Where possible, members should avoid escalating a dispute publicly while it is being reported.

Patient Support will consider reports in context and take whatever moderation action it reasonably considers appropriate.

Submitting a report does not guarantee a particular outcome.

Knowingly abusing the reporting system to harass another member may itself result in moderation action.

25. CHANGES TO THESE TERMS

Patient Support may update these Terms where reasonably necessary, including because of:

• changes to the website;
• changes to community features;
• legal or regulatory developments;
• security requirements; or
• changes to the way Patient Support operates.

Material changes will be communicated to members where appropriate.

The current version and its revision date will remain available on the website.

Changes will not retrospectively remove rights that members already have under applicable law.

26. GOVERNING LAW

These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Nothing in this section is intended to remove any mandatory legal protections that apply to a member because of where they live.

Where possible, members and Patient Support should first attempt to resolve disputes informally through the community contact address.

27. CONTACT

Questions about these Terms, membership or the operation of Patient Support can currently be sent to:

[email protected]

This contact address may be replaced by an official Patient Support domain email address in future.

FINAL REMINDER

Medicann Patient Support exists to help patients support one another.

We are independent patients supporting patients. We are not Medicann, we do not prescribe medication, and community discussion does not replace professional medical care.

By using Patient Support, members agree to respect that distinction, respect one another and use the community responsibly.