After being diagnosed with MS in 2010 I became a leading advocate for medical cannabis in the UK. My journey was recorded in a documentary on major streaming sites and my story shared with hundreds of thousands of people.

I have lead delegations of patients to parliament to demand change and I am an outspoken advocate for the power of medical cannabis to transform lives.

I use my experience in campaigning, building teams and running organisations to lead widespread change for social justice. Patients deserve access to medicine!

My journey with cannabis started as a activist campaigning outside and inside Parliament.

In 2017 I was diagnosed with bilateral acetabulum & femoral retroversion, undergoing 5 years of major reconstructive surgery. It was cannabis that supported my healing journey and provided me the most relief with the least side effects. After experiencing the nasty side of pharmaceutical medications, I made it my mission to ensure patients had awareness and access to cannabis.

Now I use my experience in Media & Culture to advocate for medical cannabis and educate the patient community.

I have been a cannabis activist since I left school, as my father, Winston Matthews, utilised cannabis as a painkiller. My father had broken his back and I would take him to events. Since then, I have been very active.

In 2011 I had an accident at work that changed my life. Then after that I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was prescribed various opioids. Cannabis has been the most effective relief without all of the horrendous side effects.

I’m helping UPA advocate for law reform to protect the rights of patients. 

Anthi Theiopoulou was born in Athens on April 1980 while during the last years is living in London, UK. She has been specialised in Strategy, Policy and Organisational Development and she holds an MSc in International Management from the University of Liverpool. She speaks fluently English, French and Italian, plays the piano and was a member of the Hellenic National Karate Team for several years. During the last 23 years she works as a Consultant and is a co-founder and President of the Hellenic Society for Organizational Learning. Experienced and results-driven Policy Manager with over a decade of delivering impactful solutions across the UK Parliament’s business and international organisations. Her first book, titled ‘Doing More With Less; Organizational Learning and the OLSET tool’ was published in 2016 and describes the scientific research behind a software enabling managers and consultants to transform organisations into learning ones that maintain a continuous competitive advantage.

Xavier Clarke is a chronic pain survivor and a photographer. He was the 11th patient to be prescribed medical cannabis in the UK and through his independent project https://patient11.co.uk/ and the UPA, he supports advocacy and raises awareness of medical cannabis. He has been featured in many videos and news articles as his passion for cannabis advocacy shines through.

Living with chronic pain, inflammation of adhesions, and chronic neuropathic pain, I have been treating my sypmtoms with medicinal cannabis since 2008. In 2015 following a successful campaign on change.org I secured a trial of Sativex on the NHS.

Passionate about patient rights, I am committed to ensuring full NHS access to medicinal cannabis for every patient in need.