UK Medicinal Cannabis Industry Calls for Bold New Policies to Increase Patient Access and Clinical Understanding of Medicinal Cannabis

UK industry body launches a report calling on the government to adopt novel, bolder approaches to policy making in relation to medicinal cannabis.

The UK’s industry leadership body, the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis, today launches a report calling on the government to adopt novel, bolder approaches to policy making in relation to medicinal cannabis.

Three years after medicinal cannabis was first legalised in the UK, a diverse group of scientists, industry leaders, clinicians and campaigners have come together to argue for policy changes to promote better understanding of the benefits of medicinal cannabis, increased access to medicines for patients and a more regulatory requirement more conducive to institutional investment in the sector.

The report, Decalogue - Ideas to Increase Patient Access and Clinical Understanding of Medicinal Cannabis - sets out 10 new ideas including:

“The report makes a compelling case for using existing governmental approaches to innovation and research and development to accelerate clinical studies, therapeutic understanding and patient access. It also exposes the absence of a coherent public policy strategic framework to support this new industry and its consequences. The medicinal cannabis industry can become a vital component of Britain’s life sciences sector and our aspiration to become a global scientific superpower but this now requires a nurturing approach from the government instead of the current reactive one.”

“The size and scale of the UK’s medicinal cannabis sector will ultimately be determined by the ability of the industry to come together to engage constructively with the government. This report provides a roadmap of how this can be achieved.”

“Learning from COVID-19, I sense that there is great support from all relevant stakeholders to redefine and modernise processes of drug development and medical cannabis could be the poster-boy of this new normal as we emerge from the pandemic. The issues, ideas, concepts, and proposals outlined in these essays represent the first step of this journey and signal a bright future for this growing sector.”

About The Centre for Medicinal Cannabis

The Centre for Medical Cannabis (CMC) is the UK’s first and only industry membership body for stakeholders operating in cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBMPs). More information about the CMC can be found at www.thecmcuk.org.

The report can be read here - decalogue.info