Chisora Fights Back Against Chronic Pain with New UK Medical Cannabis Platform

LONDON – British heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora has gone public sharing his experience using prescribed medical Cannabis to manage chronic pain and launching a telehealth and patient education platform, WarOnPain, to guide others through the UK’s legal medical Cannabis system.

The former professional boxer, who competed in 50 professional bouts, says years in the ring left him dealing with persistent discomfort “from my knees to my hands.” For Chisora, the move to Cannabis-based treatment was a statement about options.

“People see the fights, the knockouts, the entertainment,” Chisora said in remarks tied to the launch. “What they don’t see is what happens afterwards – the years your body carries the damage, the recovery and the pain you live with every day.”

WarOnPain, part of the War Health Group (WHG), has partnered with Grow Group Limited, an established operator in the UK medical Cannabis market, to make the service available to the public. The medical Cannabis supplied through the platform is grown in South Africa by SafriCanna, an international medicinal Cannabis business operating to pharmaceutical-grade standards. Chisora recently visited Grow Group’s facility in Nottingham, where he personally weighed and packed the first dose designated for patients.

His own prescription, obtained through the WarOnPain pathway, consists of a 10g pouch of dry Cannabis herb flower with 26% THC and under 1% CBD, administered via a dry herb vaporizer as directed by a specialist clinician.

Patients interested in the service go through doctor-led video consultation, an eligibility assessment, an independent clinical decision [which may result in no prescription] and, if a prescription is issued, dispensing through a regulated online pharmacy. Chisora himself completed such a process through the platform.

The timing aligns with broader discussions in the UK medical Cannabis sector. WarOnPain officially launched on May 26, aligning with the two-day Cannabis Europa conference at London’s Barbican Centre – an event bringing together policymakers, business leaders, and MPs to examine the medical Cannabis market. The backdrop is a system where, despite Cannabis-based medicines being legalized in the UK in November 2018, more than 99% of prescriptions are still privately funded.

The public appetite for change is real. A YouGov poll found 73% of the British public believe doctors should be able to prescribe Cannabis for medical use. What remains in shorter supply, Chisora argues, is awareness of what already exists. “There are 28 million people living with chronic pain, but many still don’t understand the legal pathway or even realize medical Cannabis exists in a regulated form in the UK,” he said.

That gap [between legal access and public knowledge] is where WarOnPain is planting its flag. The platform is not lobbying for policy change. It is working inside the current rules, building a clinical referral pathway and a public education layer around it. What is less common is an advocate who has personally completed the full prescribing journey before the press release was written, and who is framing the conversation around access rather than endorsement.