Israel Desks - February 2020 Edition

30 2 of the 2001 Regulations) a product must satisfy the requirements of Regulation 2. These requirements for the product to be both “produced for medicinal use in humans” and to be either “a medicinal product or an ingredient in a medicinal product” ensure that only products regulated as medicines and produced specifically for medicinal purposes are placed in Schedule 2. To date, there have been a limited number of medicinal cannabis prescriptions issued in the United Kingdom (in comparison to Germany, for example, where demand has tripled since 2017). This is largely due to the lack of availability of medicinal cannabis products via the National Health Service (in turn, a function of NHS budgetary constraints and spending criteria). Practically speaking, such products, though lawful for treatment, are not available for routine prescription by doctors in the United Kingdom. There has also been intensive lobbying to widen the regulation to allow more doctors to prescribe medicinal cannabis, rather than this being limited solely to Specialist Registrars. Wellness CBD is the non-psychoactive substance contained in hemp plants which is used in many wellness products available to consumers in the form of capsules and oils; it also has various industrial applications. Due to CBD’s versatility, there has been significant recent innovation in CBD infused products such as oils, tinctures, pastes, teas, capsules and ointments, which has opened up a market for CBD food, drink and beauty products. The Home Office acknowledges that a CBD product derived from hemp seed and stems in its pure form is not a “controlled drug” under the MDA 1971 and 2001 Regulations. However, CBD products may be unlawful if they contain a trace of psychoactive compounds (e.g. THC). The Home Office takes the view that it is very difficult for CBD to be isolated in its pure form and it is aware that many products in the market are not accurately and fully disclosing their content. There are also certain UK food labelling and food safety regulations (including EU Novel Foods Regulation approval), manufacturing legislation and advertising standards with which a product must comply before it can be lawfully placed onto the market. There is therefore a latent ambiguity over treatment of this sector in the United Kingdom which is due to the lack of a clear regulatory framework in relation to CBD products. There are also differing standards of regulatory treatment across Europe. For example in Greece and Germany, CBD products where less than 0.2% of the content is psychoactive may be