October has been a positive month in the world of CBD and more importantly, in the world of cannabis for medical purposes. In a huge turning point for the UK, the Home Secretary Sajid Javid has decided to relax the rules surrounding the circumstances in which cannabis products can be prescribed.
To clarify CBD has always been and remains a legal substance to obtain. Prescription based cannabis will contain the controlled substance THC, which is responsible for the psychoactive effect.
From November 1st 2018 new regulations will come into place allowing doctors to prescribe the treatment. As highlighted earlier this year in the cases of both Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell, currently cannabis-derived drugs can only be prescribed in exceptional circumstances and only after permission is granted by a panel of medical experts
Patients suffering from conditions such as chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, nausea as a result of chemotherapy or epilepsy will be amongst the first in the UK to be prescribed the drugs. This is only going to apply to England, Wales and Scotland.
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), which carried out the second part of the review, says doctors should be able to prescribe medicinal cannabis provided products meet safety standards.
It recommended cannabis-derived medicinal products should be placed in Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. Cannabis has previously been classed as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning it is thought to have no therapeutic value but can be used for the purposes of research with a Home Office licence.
On the website Directors Talk Interviews.com Geremy Thomas, founder and CEO of Sativa Investments, the UK’s first medicinal cannabis investment vehicle, says:
“This is further good news for the industry and Sativa looks forward to the details of the Home Office’s vision. There will of course be more competition from foreign companies who will apply for import licences and Sativa itself will exploit these future opportunities here in Britain.
Sativa will continue to develop and run its pan-European seed to consumer strategy, delivering on all components of the end-to-end process for the development of medicinal cannabis.”
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