Israel Desks - February 2020 Edition

29 UK Cannabis Sector The United Kingdom is the world’s largest producer and exporter of legal cannabis for medical and scientific research. Figures show that the UK produced 44.9 per cent of the world’s total cannabis in 2016 which made up 70 per cent of the world’s total cannabis exports. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the use of cannabis for medicinal treatments and low THC (the psychoactive compound) cannabinoid products for wellness in the United Kingdom. This has, in part, been as a result of the legalisation of medicinal and adult-use cannabis in Canada and a growing number of US states that have been liberalising legalisation around cannabis consumption. This trend has created new markets and has increased the level of discussion around cannabis legislation reform in the United Kingdom and worldwide. The UK Regulatory Framework The principal statutory measure in the United Kingdom relevant to cannabis is the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (“MDA 1971”) which divides drugs into threecategories (according to their perceived relativeharm),namelyClasses A, B and C. These categories are more specifically addressed by Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (the “2001 Regulations”). Cannabis and its derivatives fall under Class B. The schedule into which a drug is placed dictates the extent to which it is lawful to import, export, produce, supply, administer and possess that drug. Debate over the years over moving Cannabis into the less restricted Class C has not as yet led to a change in UK law or policy approach. Medicinal cannabis On 1 November 2018, following a review by the Chief Medical Officer and receipt of advice fromtheAdvisoryCouncil on theMisuseofDrugs inAugust 2018, the Government amended UK law in relation to cannabis-based medicinal products, meaning that cannabis can be cultivated, possessed or supplied under a Home Office Licence but now such products can also be prescribed for treatment purposes by doctors on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council. In order to qualify as a cannabis-based medicinal product (under Schedule