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What Does the Future Hold for UK Cannabis?

Sep. 13, 2024 by SOMAÍ Pharmaceuticals

After a recent conversation with Pierre van Weperen of Grow Group PLC and Grow Pharma, his vision of the United Kingdom’s cannabis market inspired continued rumination on the state of the marketplace and its future directions.

For advocates and those in the cannabis industry, cannabis regulation is in constant need of evolution and reform; this is a natural process of a burgeoning market built on decades of suspicion, criminalisation, and prohibition. However, the UK is a unique island of cannabis progress that may or may not improve its regulatory framework soon.

How does UK cannabis reform compare to the world?

Politics, health organizations and the will of the people drive regulatory change. The UK is not as wildly pro-cannabis as other countries, with 35% of adults for cannabis and 38% against cannabis legalisation. Across party lines, there has been consistent support from the Greens, Liberal Democrats and Labour Party for some form of law reform: 61% of Labour voters support legalisation, 58% of Liberal Democrats, and 40% of Conservative voters – skewed towards younger voters being more supportive than their older counterparts.

The general feeling seems to be that politically, the legalisation of medical cannabis products in in 2018 opened the market for unlicensed medical cannabis on private prescriptions; no further support is needed, when politicians believe there is no possible gain from this issue. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has remained steadfast in his opposition to any form of change around cannabis, for decriminalisation or regulation.

With uninterested politicians and only some popular support for regulation, the future of British cannabis reform is very uncertain. Unfortunately, the numbers are not significant enough for the UK Health Security Agency (HSA) to feel a need for reform at this time. Even the most recent 252-page report from the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreeing with the safety of cannabis and its beneficial indication for 15 medical conditions, as well as German legalisation, HSA does not seem to feel any pressure to consider any regulatory changes.

What challenges does the UK cannabis market face?

Fundamentally, until cannabis is viewed and treated through the lens of health and social justice rather than crime — as both past and current British leadership frame it — the needs of cannabis patients and other consumers will remain unmet.

The UK population is 68 million people strong, but there are only roughly 30,000 registered cannabis patients. While some data indicates there are 1.8 million people self-medicating with cannabis, the official patient pool is too small to significantly impact regulatory or political decision-making processes. If predictions are correct, even growing this pool to 50,000 or 100,000 patients may still not be enough for the heavy lifting of outdated cannabis rules; but such a large number has much more influencing potential.

Simple and functional changes that would help grow the patient body would be to lift the current restriction that sidelines cannabis only to a third-line medication – meaning that two other treatments need to be tried for a period before cannabis is considered.

Another change would be to allow for medical specialists to write private cannabis prescriptions during NHS consultations, or even open up private GPs to prescribe cannabis. However, while this isn’t too much to ask, with such low numbers of potential patients, it may actually be too much to hope for.

Additionally, the argument isn’t helped along by wishful cannabis executives touting the UK cannabis market as a billion-pound venture. Incredibly optimistic projects inadvertently make the case for maintaining the status quo, rather than pushing for reform. Such projections don’t help or facilitate discussions about what is needed to improve patient access.

The British illicit cannabis market is thriving

Unlocking real growth in the legal medical market depends on improving access to medication and transitioning people off the illegal market. The UK illegal cannabis market is valued at approximately 2.6 billion pounds for both recreational and medical use. However, even with the temptation of an additional taxable revenue source that could easily bring in serious sums of money to public coffers as well as employment opportunities, politicians still seem to have little interest in pushing for health or economic-based change.

Making the public aware of legal access options has been difficult due to regulatory restrictions on advertisements. This is not helped by the continued criminalisation of cannabis, which means people face harassment from drug enforcement authorities, and risk being treated as criminals for accessing their medicine.

A recent Guardian survey highlighted another risk of police that is unsure of the legality of medical cannabis. Almost a quarter of surveyed police officers weren’t aware that medical cannabis is legal. With limitations on patient access and discovery of cannabis medicine coupled with harsh enforcement even if people access cannabis legally, the picture certainly looks bleak for current and future patients.

Despite Growing Pains UK Medical Cannabis Has a Bright Future

The UK will continue being a solid cannabis marketplace: Month-on-month growth of the legal patient number is noticeable, and perhaps for the time being, having such a robust illicit market will continue increasing access for those who need and want cannabis.

The existing British infrastructure for providing access to medical cannabis is resilient enough as it stands. Currently, there are 32 licensed clinics and 100+ doctors in the UK that can provide a cannabis prescription, with the most groups by volume being Grow Pharma LtdLyphe GroupCuraleaf LaboratoriesMamedicaAlternaleaf and Cantourage Clinic. The market is already well-serviced with teleclinics and pharmacies all over the UK with the capacity to receive and prescribe products. The industry is prepared to accommodate for more patients as they come.

Big unknowns remain around the future of regulatory or political changes for cannabis, as too many forces favour maintaining the status quo. While it is unlikely that access will become more restricted than what it already is, strategic and consistent advocacy will be needed to make sure that patients will have better and more affordable access. In turn, producers need to also continue producing high-quality goods, and push for regulatory procedures that enable better legal access. The UK may not have the strongest winds of change, but as change sweeps Europe, even the most resistant of states will have to take heed, or risk being left behind.

This article by Michael Sassano was originally published in TalkingDrugs.