It is an absolute pleasure to welcome you to the first issue of the BRITISH CANNABIS™ Magazine.
After 7 years in the industry, this year brings many exciting developments within this ever-changing CBD products industry. As our founder and visionary of the business, I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you the story of BRITISH CANNABIS and how we have come to be the largest CBD manufacturer in the UK, as well as some of the exciting developments going on right now.
BRITISH CANNABIS’ vision has always been to be the UK’s household name in cannabis, creating an enduring legacy of changing the lives of people for generations to come. Over the years, our mission has been to deliver the finest legal CBD products our customers can trust which we have achieved through our dedication to excellence in every aspect of our business.
7 years ago, I had a clear vision of what I wanted to build in this world, where we aspire to change the lives of people with the work that we do. This was my legacy. And with that, BRITISH CANNABIS was born. Everything we have done over the years has been dedicated to building and growing this organisation. We have achieved this by doing more than most, more than is necessary. Our revenues are just the result, not the reason we exist.
We exist to continue to build on our knowledge, our understanding, and expertise which we have amassed over the last 6 years; growing, extracting, analysing, studying, manufacturing, and demonstrating our regulatory compliance. It’s that passion into every aspect of the production of cannabis, from seed to shelf, that ends up in every single one of our products. While any company can add CBD into a product, it takes years of hard work, dedication, and passion to create products and brands that are as good as ours, unrivalled in their quality, safety, and efficacy.
It has been a pleasure watching this business grow over the years and help change the lives of so many people along the way. I find my fortune in the feeling I get through what this business does and the significant impact it has on other people’s lives. I feel there is no better way to acknowledge your good fortune than by sharing it. I hope you find that feeling too by reading the stories here that follow.
Cheers,
All CBD food supplements need to be registered with the FSA to continue selling. We happen to have more registered products than the anyone else.
The flagship CBD product range is CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS. Take a look into the sixth year of ‘The Pharmacy Range’.
Access to CBD should be for the many, not the few. There are new product formats that make ACCESS CBD more within arm’s reach than ever.
Behind the propagator lies the science. From seed to home, every one of our cannabis products are tested to verify CBD purity and accuracy.
However, as I enter my fourth year here at BRITISH CANNABIS™, I am reassured by the consistency shown by this veteran company of a relatively young industry. Consistency in our passion for harnessing the health-supporting power of the cannabis plant in order to change lives for the better now sees BRITISH CANNABIS™ grow into its eighth year. We are also delighted to return to The Pharmacy Show for a sixth year running – a long standing partner of this event in the CBD industry.
2022 is the year we secured the future of our portfolio with the news in June that BRITISH CANNABIS™ now manufactures over 12.2% of all CBD food supplements moving on to the next stage of FSA approval. This garnered a sigh of relief to say the least, that our retailers, business customers, and consumers will be able to continue to have a choice of nearly 1,500 products in our portfolio.
There are some brilliant innovations being exhibited at this year’s Pharmacy Show including the brand that disrupted the pricing landscape of the CBD market, now returning to the show with new releases.
ACCESS CBD® has extended its brand into two new categories – vaping and edibles via our new ACCESS CBD® E-Liquid range and our delicious new Citrus CBD Gummies. Both come with the brand’s trademark compelling value for money. See the ACCESS CBD section on Page 30 for more details.
We also have a number of award-winning and award-nominated products at the show. Check out Page 10 for details of what highly acclaimed products are available to sample at our stand.
The pharmacy sector needs support from suppliers, now more than ever. With this in mind and considering the financial risk retailers take in stocking new CBD brands and determining which formats and strengths their customers will actually buy, we have a range of industry-leading, no-commitment trial packages for retailers looking to get into the CBD industry. This is backed up, as always, by all of the training and education we provide on all areas.
Change has been a greater-than-ever force in the world this year; in commerce, politics, world events, weather records, and healthcare.
> Steve Batchelor > Marketing Director
Drop by and see us at Stand D40 at The Pharmacy Show. We look forward to welcoming you back.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ will be at The Pharmacy Show during 16-17 October 2022. Enjoying its sixth year of attendance, the ground-breaking company that brought you the champagne of CBD oils has a fresh new look and innovative, new compliant products for pharmacists.
Canabidol™, now trading as CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™, became the first CBD brand to exhibit at The Pharmacy Show in 2017. The pioneering company has been a staple at the event, leading the way for cannabis-derived supplements as the UK’s wellness market has grown.
Established in 2015, BRITISH CANNABIS™ is 100% British owned and operates a unique extraction and purification facility in England providing analytical testing, bulk extracts, and white label products to the UK’s market-leading brands.
Their range includes CBD oils, capsules, sublingual tablets, e-liquids, dermal patches, and the UK’s first clinically proven cannabis cosmetic which was awarded the Independent Community Pharmacist Magazine 2020 CBD Product of the Year Award.
At the core of BRITISH CANNABIS™ is it’s CEO, Tom Whettem, and his team who have recently been recognised as the largest manufacturer in the UK CBD market by the UK’s government Food Standards Agency, which lists over 1,400 of its products. Only the CBD products that have made this public list meet legal and health and safety standards.
For those new to the scene, CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ was the first UK-made and independently owned CBD brand developed specifically to meet the exacting standards required in the pharmacy sector for the retail sale of CBD products. This included transparent, batch-by-batch analytical testing for product purity, publicly available online test results, and class-leading accuracy on CBD strengths.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ has shipped over half a million product units across multiple retail channels in the past 5 years including its pharmacy range, CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™, low-cost CBD oil range, ACCESS CBD®, and a white label powerhouse behind many other successful CBD brands.
Managing Director, David Ralson, commented on the company’s return to The Pharmacy Show 2022 and what’s in store for visitors:
“Over the years, BRITISH CANNABIS™ has won awards for our own whole-plant based ingredients, as well as a number of accolades across our retail brands, including Best Pharmacy CBD Product with Independent Community Pharmacist and Best CBD Product, with several health and wellbeing magazines. Meanwhile, our white label and private label partners have also picked up several awards for the products we manufacture for them.”
With over 1,400 product options, all registered under FSA Novel Foods applications, other brands in recent months have turned to being ‘Powered by BRITISH CANNABIS™’ under the company’s white label manufacturing. “Many CBD brands have faced issues with regulations and several high-profile brands turned to us for support. Their supply chain from abroad had been interrupted due to the difficulties with importing products into the UK, especially ‘fullspectrum’ formulas and extracts.”
Having gained total control of its supply chain, with its own lab testing, manufacturing, warehouse, and dispatch facilities, the firm invested all profits back into the business which led to the development of its cannabis research farm in Portugal. “We soon became the leading experts in our field – literally and figuratively,” Ralson continues.
“We are excited to be meeting up again with the pharmacists and pharmacy leaders who have been the long-time heartland of our brands. Pharmacists may have been approached by CBD companies more times than they care to recall, but as the company with the longest-standing track record for compliance and knowledge, we continue to be there for the sector.
Innovations that we are looking forward to showing visitors include great new formats, like CBD Dermal Patches, edibles such as our ACCESS CBD® Gummies, and CBD e-liquids for vape administration.”
As one of 35 testing labs selected to participate in the UK’s Government Chemist ring trial assessment for measuring CBD and cannabinoid content in commercial products, the BRITISH CANNABIS ANALYTICS division received further confidence in the reliability and accuracy of their lab’s test results. The Government Chemist stated that the trial was “very successful”, with 82% of labs (including BRITISH CANNABIS™) demonstrating their capability to determine CBD in consumer products successfully.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ CEO and founder, Tom Whettem, commented: “Having this amount of trust and faith put into our analytics services is further ratification that BRITISH CANNABIS™ labs are up to par with other established testing facilities, such as Eurofins and Fera. We are able to not only further increase the trust in the accuracy of our own products, but also offer a new testing house for any CBD and cannabisderived product to help other brands build their own compliance evidence.”
Come and visit BRITISH CANNABIS™ at stand D40 at The Pharmacy Show and discuss how to partner with our brands. We can make compliant CBD wellness products a staple of your business model for years to come.
The UK’s ‘cannabis consumer product pioneer’ now manufactures 12.2% of all CBD food supplements legal to sell in the UK, following the summer 2022 updates to the Food Standards Agency’s Novel Foods public list.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ celebrated the major breakthrough of 1,481 of its products successfully passing onto the crucial next stage of the UK Novel Foods process for CBD food supplements.
On Tuesday 16th August 2022, the UK’s Food Standards Agency published further updates to the public list of CBD food products linked to novel food applications. The list of products had grown substantially from 3,536 individual products in March 2022, to 12,118 (at the time of writing) either carrying a ‘Validated’ or ‘Awaiting Evidence’ status.
Having 1,481 unique products across many thorough applications gives BRITISH CANNABIS™ the highest number of CBD food supplement products permitted for general sale of any brand or manufacturer.
This resulting 12.2% share of the UK market, by portfolio of legal products, includes 89 of the company’s own-brand portfolio, from the CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ (formerly known as Canabidol™), ACCESS CBD®, CBD HEALTH™, and Elixinol ranges. Also progressing on towards the ‘Validation’ stage are hundreds of individual products across several leading brands ‘Powered by BRITISH CANNABIS™’ under the company’s white label manufacturing services.
CBD Food Supplements registered on the UK FSA Public List.
Share of all CBD food supplements through to the next stage of Novel Foods approval and continued legal sale in the UK.
Unique and exclusive Novel Foods dossiers, protecting retailer and white label brand partners for the future.
Of all the UK market’s FSA applications come from BRITISH CANNABIS™.
“even after
FSA,
time,
an expanded “final” list of 11,908 approved products at the end of June, the agency’s website now includes an additional 209, raising the current total to 12,117.” –
Credit: Hemp Today, 22 August 2022
“…even after the FSA, for the second time, released an expanded “final” list of 11,908 approved products at the end of June, the agency’s website now includes an additional 209, raising the current total to 12,117.” –Credit: Hemp Today, 22 August 2022
Brands and manufacturers selling CBD products that were on the UK market during or before February 2020 were invited to apply for pre-market authorisation, with a deadline of 31st March 2021. In the interim, the FSA considered the evidence presented by over 800 applications, covering an estimated 14,000 products attempting to stay on the market. The eventual publishing of the public lists may represent a key moment for the CBD products industry after a relatively long wait to discover the results of this extensive pre-market authorisation process.
Following on from the series of announcements made during 2022, several thousand other CBD food supplement products that did not make it onto the FSA public list are recommended to be removed from sale in retailers across the UK, with Trading Standards partners set to roll out plans for enforcement. The products prominent in the FSA public list made by BRITISH CANNABIS™ include sublingual CBD oils, CBD capsules, and edible food products such as CBD gummies and Gel-Tabs.
One point of difference of particular note is the fact that many of BRITISH CANNABIS™ products are among the few remaining on the market to use 100% cannabis, naturally derived formulas in their CBD oils; thus, they contain the hundreds of beneficial non-cannabinoid plant phytochemicals found in cannabis. All this whilst still also being 0% THC. BRITISH CANNABIS™ food supplements are also free from other controlled cannabinoids.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ CEO, Thomas Whettem, reacted shortly after hearing news of the public list updates: “This is a monumental moment for our company and the result of 3 years of work and investment from my dedicated project team. The aim for BRITISH CANNABIS™, ever since 2015, has been to embody expertise when it comes to CBD products that people can trust. Now, having cornered the market with over 1-in-10 of the CBD products remaining legal to sell in the UK, I am galvanised that we are on our way to achieving this goal.
We had 15 individual Novel Foods dossier submissions to the FSA, spanning thousands of pages and many hours of providing evidence. This now provides us and our customers with a substantial 20% of all of the RP numbers now appearing on this public list. The evidence gathered included our thorough testing, product safety, and purity. Our passion is for compliant products that do and contain what we say they do. It’s our vision that retailers and consumers alike will be able to continue to place their trust in BRITISH CANNABIS™ for many years to come.”
BRITISH CANNABIS™ Managing Director, David Ralson, added: “I can hardly put into words how excited and proud this year’s happenings with the Novel Foods process have made me, both for my team and for all of the customers that support our products. To be confirmed, at this time, as the predominate manufacturer in the UK by the number of products on the FSA public list is gratifying for all of the dedication we have put into doing things the best way possible and in order to make our products sustainable for the future.
Our partners at the ACI (Association for The Cannabinoid Industry) have been supporting us in progressive discussions along the way
BRITISH CANNABIS™ is the largest producer, manufacturer, and distributor of legal cannabis-derived products in the UK. They own and operate a unique extraction and purification facility in England and provide analytical testing, bulk extracts, and white label products to the UK market leading brands.
With over a thousand CBD food supplement products, included across no less than 15 thorough applications to the Food Standards Agency, the makers of CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™, ACCESS CBD® and many successful white label brands are set to bring cannabis-based wellness products to the people for years to come.
with both the Food Standards Agency and Trading Standards. As soon as the consortium toxicology study that we have partaken in with the ACI and its members is ready for release, we look forward to our products currently listed as ‘Awaiting Evidence’ on the public list to move on to ‘Validated’ status, and then to full approval in the next year or two.
I would encourage all of our customers and consumers, existing and future, to check the FSA public list carefully; is your CBD supplement on the list? If not, why? Our Primary Partnership with Berkshire & Buckinghamshire Trading Standards sees us ready to advise retailers who have questions about this process and what compliant CBD products they should be stocking. Moving forward, we are delighted to be able to offer them a greater choice of compliant cannabis food products than any other manufacturer.”
the for the second releasedCBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ entered 2022 with a brand new, premium look and feel. The industry-defining CBD supplement brand, formerly known as Canabidol™, built upon its best-in-class product formulas now comes in luxurious packaging to match the highly acclaimed supplements and cosmetics inside.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ looked to bring consumers a sensory experience similar to that of opening a brand new smart phone and deliver the feel of a high-quality ‘unboxing moment’ as customers receive each new pack. Super-premium packaging to match the excellence of the 100% cannabis formulations that are the hallmark of this flagship range.
The new designs reflect the high standards customers have come to expect as over half a million units have been sold to date, garnering nearly 1,500 5-Star reviews on Trustpilot.
2022 saw the largest media campaign to date for premium flagship range CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™. An all-new advert featured target demographic 45+ year old, health conscious UK consumers, using the brand’s range of 100% cannabis CBD oils, full-plant oral capsules, CBD Dermal Patches and CBD RESCUE CREAM®.
Set in the style of a classic health and beauty advert, the creative aims to break down barriers to legal cannabis-derived products, gaining approval to make more industry-specific references than any campaign to date.
Also pride of place in the advert is the brand’s Rated Excellent status on Trustpilot, as over 1,300 consumers have given the brand formerly known as Canabidol a five star review over several years of sales success.
Distribution included entertainment, documentary, sports, film and news channels across the SKY Channel 5 and UKTV networks. This represented the first time that the SKY network opened its doors to CBD advertisers on their linear stations since 2019, after BRITISH CANNABIS™ demonstrated an understanding for regulatory compliance, consumer trust with product testing and its status as a UK industry pioneer since 2015 – with Novel Foods applications to the FSA looking set for success.
BRITISH CANNABIS™ Managing Director, David Ralson, celebrated the launch by saying “this is a monumental moment for our industry, as this is the first fully-approved TV advert to use ‘cannabis industry’ terminology, including iconography of the industrial Cannabis sativa L. plant itself, reference to our 100% Cannabis based formulas and real-life consumers using our products. We are tremendously proud to have achieved this”.
We understand the general public’s concerns around the legality and quality of many CBD products that were previously on the market. CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ provides its consumers unrivalled levels of assurance and confidence on product safety, accuracy, and legality - simply look up the unique batch code found on every pack.
The range is headlined by its best-selling, premium CBD oils – from its great tasting, refined CBD Cannabis Oil, to the full-plant power and intense taste of RAW Cannabis Oil, each available in a range of strengths, from 250mg to 2000mg.
CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ also offer slow-release CBD Capsules, clinically-tested CBD Dermal Patches, and the UK’s first clinically proven cannabis cosmetic – the award-winning
CBD RESCUE CREAM® in two strengths, 250mg and 500mg.
Delivering 100% Cannabis sativa L., something rarely seen in today’s leading CBD brands, CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ represents the result of years of extensive research and development. Get in touch with us today to learn more about this premium range from BRITISH CANNABIS™.
Also, look out for the video series, as part of our exclusive partnership with TV’s Dr. Christian Jessen, as we explain more frequently asked questions about CBD products and give guides to retailers and shoppers alike. Visit Canabidol.com or the BRITISH CANNABIS™ YouTube channel to watch.
The Journey to changing lives starts here.
The past seven years have been golden for self-funded start-up BRITISH CANNABIS™. Busy building a better world since 2015, the £20million company continues to grow and change people’s lives. The time has now come for private investors to make a difference.
Tom Whettem left school in Berkshire, UK, at the age of 15 to work instead of going on to further education. “I was told I would never get anywhere in life,” he recalls. And yet, some 25 years later, millionaire Tom manufactures 12.2% of all CBD products on the UK’s Food Standards Agency’s regulated list.
Holding the position of Regulatory and Compliance Director at Britain’s first cannabis trade body, Tom embarked upon
a journey that has seen him play an instrumental role in regulating ‘Novel Food’ supplements, working with EU and member states, supporting trade bodies, and securing the position of an industry built around legal CBD.
As the successful entrepreneur heads BRITISH CANNABIS™ into its first ever funding round, with a market now worth £690million in the UK, what exactly was his catalyst?
When Tom saw a video of Jayden David, who suffered from frequent violent seizures due to a rare form of childhood epilepsy, it dramatically changed the course of his career.
“My number one goal is to have my son say, ‘I love you’; people take that for granted,” explained Jayden’s father, Jason, as he weaned his seven year old son off 22 prescription pills a day to be replaced by a small dose of cannabis oil, almost immediately putting an end to the constant seizures.
Until that point, Tom’s motivations were purely success-driven like most noteworthy entrepreneurs. But after his daughter was born, he became a more altruistic person, taking on a different outlook. His daughter was attending school for the first time in 2015 when Tom was first inspired by Jayden’s video.
So inspired that in that very same year, he created BRITISH CANNABIS as a means to be able to help others that could benefit from CBD in the same way Jayden had benefited from it.
“In 2013, the CBD market was still in its infancy with a few CBD foods, cosmetics, and e-liquids already emerging”, he told us. “However, I was determined to improve lives and came up with the mantra ‘Legacy Before Currency’, a principle I thought my daughter would admire.”
With a Global Market Worth of £13billion (by 2028), his actions have perfectly captured the zeitgeist of current day Britain in 2022. Epilepsy, inflammation, and anxiety have become less extreme in recent years thanks to CBD’s increasing accessibility. Evidently, CBD is changing millions of people’s lives.
As a CEO, Tom knew he had the skills in business to take legal cannabis to the next level with his farm in Portugal. Having set his sights even higher, he recently secured BRITISH CANNABIS’ position as the largest manufacturer of legal cannabis supplements in the UK
BRITISH CANNABIS is a full-plant spectrum cannabis company that has sold over one million units and generated £18million in revenue since it was founded in 2015. More than just a CBD brand, BRITISH CANNABIS has established an impeccable reputation amongst its clients and partners. It has been recognised as the largest manufacturer in the UK CBD market by the UK government’s Food Standards Agency, which lists over 1,400 of its products.
There was no blueprint for the CBD industry in the UK when Tom started this journey; he began from square one. “We built the science, the technology, and growing methods all from the ground up,” said Tom. Without a doubt, plans to get CBD into the UK market were slow for years, but things have since sped up a considerable amount thanks to Tom’s devotion to professional, regulatory compliance.
So, what makes this company stand out from the crowd for cornerstone investors? “Our unique selling point is a reliable source of CBD that is FSA regulated”, says David Ralson, Managing Director at BRITISH CANNABIS. “We are growing high quality hemp at our Portuguese farm using EU Approved Phenotype Selection products to meet FSA standards.” A decade ago, most of us wouldn’t have been able to imagine legal cannabis-derived products being sold in the UK, and yet, Tom and his team have grown a tiny business into the self-funded, debt-free company that BRITISH CANNABIS is today.
So, where is this business heading? Tom and his team are now seeking interested parties for private investment into BRITISH CANNABIS. The next stage is to enable others to share this legacy with him and help further accelerate their growth. BRITISH CANNABIS seeks its first round of funding to expand in the UK and into the EU market, launching its EU processing facility.
“We are expanding UK distribution and supporting marketing activities with national pharmacy listings in Lloyds Pharmacy and Well Pharmacy”, said David. “We’re building on marketing through consumer awareness, advertising, and brand ambassadors, taking our Novel Foods through to full authorisation whilst pioneering new product development and ingredient innovations.”
As the founder, Tom predicts revenues exceeding £15million per annum by the end of Year 4, placing a potential value on the company of over £100million. Thanks to regulatory security, a robust supply chain, and established profitable trading history, the UK-centric business can now offer investors ownership of their years of experience and knowledge.
With almost a 20% share of all Novel Food applications successfully progressing through to the next stage, BRITISH CANNABIS has secured a significant share in an emerging market. Being listed by the FSA provides a solid advantage for investors. BRITISH CANNABIS is highly profitable with scale and at the perfect size for growth, providing this business with a unique market position.
With £18million turnover, 5 years of profitable trading, zero debt, and a 60% gross profit margin, only serious investors will join the journey. BRITISH CANNABIS are on the path to becoming a business worth £100million – anyone not investing in them is missing an opportunity. However, for Tom, it’s more about continuing the legacy and journey with people who share his vision. “Money helps me live a very comfortable and privileged life”, he admits. “But I find my fortune in the feeling I get through what this business does and the significant impact it has on other people’s lives. I feel there is no better way to acknowledge your good fortune than by sharing it.”
BRITISH CANNABIS are actively opening up ownership of the company to the public. Join them before it’s too late.
With over 25 years’ experience in hemp, Elixinol CBD unlocks the natural potential of the human mind and body. We deliver real results for real people and promise to always do it with the highest standards.
Elixinol has been committed to hemp for over 25 years; learning from it, teaching others about it, and helping the world discover the healing properties that are locked inside its humble leaves and flowers.
While it started with a passion for the diverse opportunities that hemp uniquely offers, from paper and clothing to fibres, Elixinol founder, Paul Benhaim, also discovered that hemp was an amazing source of some of the most poorly researched, yet most impactful ingredients known to man: cannabinoids. And so began Elixinol’s dedication to
research, science and bringing new, innovative products rich in cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids to people in need of real wellness solutions.
This ethos of research, science, and innovation is shared with Elixinol’s new UK manufacturing partner. Elixinol have joined forces in the UK with BRITISH CANNABIS™ in order to continue their mission to bring hemp wellness products to real people.
The revised line of products, now ‘Powered by BRITISH CANNABIS™’, includes a dynamic range of hempbased solutions.
5 health-promoting capsules with added vitamins and minerals, partnered with CBD, to meet a range of different needs. Each capsule contains 10mg of concentrated, 100% Hemp, also known as, Cannabis sativa L.
Dreams – Elixinol Dreams CBD capsules contain premium quality, 100% hemp extract and CBD with natural chamomile and lavender, a beautiful blend to help promote and maintain sleep.
Allure - Help keep your hair and nails looking great with Elixinol Allure CBD capsules! Selenium paired with 100% natural hemp extract to create an everyday supplement to include in your daily beauty ritual.
Digest – Elixinol Digest CBD capsules pair natural CBD extracts with calcium to help the function of digestive enzymes in your body; these in turn help you absorb essential nutrients from your food.
Serene - Elixinol Serene CBD capsules contain premium quality, 100% hemp extract with added zinc to promote normal mental and psychological performance. A sublime blend that is great for your mind.
Immune - Elixinol Immune CBD capsules contain a premium blend of CBD, 100% hemp extract and Vitamin C, to help you boost your immune system.
One of the most convenient and popular ways to take CBD. Our capsules contain 10mg of naturally extracted CBD and are delivered in a vegan-suitable shell capsule. Our easy-to-swallow capsules have no taste or smell, can be taken on-the-go, and are easily added to your daily supplements routine.
ElixinolSkin is a signature premium skincare range delivering unparalleled results for your complexion. Our CBD-centric, botanical rich fusions address skin concerns in an effective, multifunctional fashion.
This topical CBD skin balm is rich, hydrating, and can help soothe damaged skin. Made from completely natural ingredients, Elixinol Hemp Balm is carefully formulated to offer your skin the best level of protection and moisturization.
Suitable for all skin types; dry, sensitive, inflamed, and problematic skin. Great for both young and mature skin types. All of the food supplements in the Elixinol range can be assured of accuracy, safety, and compliance with today’s regulations, having been successfully registered on the Food Standards Agency’s Public List of CBD Products with Novel Foods registrations.
calm and hydrate your skin. Containing two powerhouse cannabinoids - CBD and CBG.
formulation that ensures renewing hydration deeply penetrates every pore. With added root extract as well as our favourite cannabinoids – CBD and CBG.
all skin types delicately balanced with botanical ingredients to gently cleanse and moisturise the skin.
A nourishing facial oil for use all over the body and hair formulated for unprecedented multifunctional hydration day and night.
Dr Christian Jessen became a household name thanks to Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies. Alongside his virtual clinics, he campaigns on a range of health issues and recently started an exclusive partnership with the UK’s largest CBD and cannabisderived product maker –BRITISH CANNABIS™, to help demystify cannabinoids and cannabis products.
When did you first come across and become interested in CBD?
I recently came to it through Professor David Nutt [the founder of Drug Science] who I met while filming for TV. I thought his work was so interesting; he really is a leading light in the world of drug research and policy change. I’m interested in the whole area of new emerging medicine and research, and the way that sometimes it’s slightly hampered by the law.
When I was growing up, I had an uncle who struggled with MS for a long time, and he used cannabis to help with his symptoms. This was 30 years ago, and my mother would mention it with slight embarrassment, but I remember even as a child thinking that it didn’t make any logical sense to me. If it helped him, then why was it such a bad thing?
I would. When something is more accessible, we as doctors have to get more knowledgeable about it. There’s a supply and demand for knowledge, as well for better quality research because doctors are all suddenly going ‘hang on, where’s the chapter in the book about this?’ I think that insistence for evidence can be quite inhibiting and can hold back innovation, but we can also see the importance of it. There’s a balance to be had.
As medics we can be surprisingly slow on the uptake. To give an example, on Embarrassing Bodies, we started doing video consultations, but at the time I remember getting all sorts of grief from other medics saying that it was an irresponsible way to do medicine. Now, of course, everybody’s doing video consultations and suddenly it all seems to work fine. But it took a pandemic for us to get around to this idea of breaking with tradition.
We’re very nervous when something new comes along because we all think we’re going to get struck off. We should be cautious, of course, but I don’t think doctors or pharmacists should feel that the world is going to come crashing down around us because people are trying cannabis products as an alternative. We need to make sure that the evidence base is there on cannabinoids and that we’re doing the right thing, but I think a lot of us feel quite unsupported in this.
What is your experience of patients using or asking about CBD?
I work in a private practice, and I suspect it’s often more common to get patients looking for advice about medical cannabis and CBD in the private sector than in the NHS. People seem to find it helps with all sorts of things. The next stage of that is trying to advise them on how they can best use it and how to minimise any possible risks or anything affecting other medications that they might be on. Research is so important, because at the moment, the anecdotes are actually fogging the water and making sceptical doctors a bit more suspicious, because there’s no way one substance could help with so many different things, or could it? We need to iron this out.
As a doctor do you have any concerns about the CBD industry in the UK?
I think what’s frustrating for the companies who are really doing their best, is all the ones that aren’t. The fact that the novel food regulations
have recently come in is very important. The companies I have seen and worked with, such as BRITISH CANNABIS™, are doing very well in being as transparent and as possible and adhering to the rules and regulations that come in. That’s going to benefit the whole industry and that’s going to improve patient confidence, and also doctor confidence.
What advice do you give to your patients who come to you asking about trying CBD?
I always like my patients to do their own research. I try to encourage them to learn as much as they can, to be as informed as they can, because being informed is being empowered - and it’s good because then they keep me on my toes as well. Look at the quality of the research and the quality of the sources that you’re getting your information from, and don’t just read the bits you want to read; you need a balanced picture.
My job is all about harm reduction, so we talk through the risks of stopping any other medications, but also offering them the reassurance that we know CBD is safe and that giving it a try is not going to put them at risk of harm from anything.
Would you like to see medical cannabis be more accessible in the UK?
Have you come across a lot of sceptical colleagues in your profession?
“BRITISH
The CBD by BRITISH CANNABISTM Pharmacy Range entered 2022 with a stunning new premium look. The Original CBD supplements and cosmetics range designed to meet the exacting standards required in pharmacy for CBD products to be retailed, was recognised again in 2022 by leading pharmacy publications. The MVP Awards (Most Valuable Product of The Year) are voted on by readers of P3 Pharmacy, Pharmacy Magazine and TM Training Matters.
ACCESS CBD® 4800mg Berry Flavour CBD Oil won the MVP award for Sleep, Stress & Insomnia products. CBD by BRITISH CANNABIS™ 1000mg CBD Oral Capsules were shortlisted for Vitamins, Minerals and Supplements product of the year.
Drop by and talk to the experts in CBD at The Pharmacy Show, NEC Birmingham. Visit Stand D40 to sample these award-winning products.
Known for its great climate, Portugal’s strategic location caught the eye of Tom Whettem. In 2017, he made a trip to secure the perfect spot for a production site, located in a small Portuguese town north of Lisbon, which now hosts the BRITISH CANNABIS™ growing facility.
CEO and founder, Tom, was already a leading entrepreneur in the UK industry. Having built his business from the ground up he realised that owning and operating a cannabis farm seemed like the next logical step. After all, why own a cannabis company if you’re not going to actually grow cannabis?
“Shortly after I founded BRITISH CANNABIS™, we did explore growing in the UK”, explains Tom. “But there was a very restrictive licensing process that would have limited what we could do. We wanted to pioneer like we always do and just grow hemp like farmers have been for hundreds of years.”
That’s when Tom started looking at other territories in Europe and found Portugal to be ideal, not just the climate, but the regulations allowed him more scope to really push the boundaries of what he could do. After all, Tilray, one of the biggest medical cannabis growers, had just built a £25million greenhouse there. If it was good enough for them, it was good enough for BRITISH CANNABIS™.
The reality of not growing up on a farm didn’t deter Tom, who had never been to Portugal before. Tom realised it had the best climate for cannabis cultivation, and the country’s young, educated workforce, including a major agricultural sector, were further attractions.
“In 2017, I looked at some properties online and found one, with existing infrastructure, that looked very promising. And so, I got on a plane and was only there for around 5 hours. I went to look at the farm, and after a quick viewing, I agreed to purchase it on the spot”, he says. “It was that simple! I knew nothing about Portugal, the culture, or anything. It was a gamble, but one that I would later realise was one of the best commercial decisions we ever made.”
The company then hired the appropriate staff, expert connections, and the master grower they needed to produce their first harvest. grower they needed to produce their first harvest.
> Tom CEO and FounderTom set to work researching everything about cultivating cannabis, doing what BRITISH CANNABIS™ does best; throwing out the standard playbook and doing it their way.
“So, I had started growing without any knowledge whatsoever”, says Tom. “My agricultural experience to date was limited to growing a few tomatoes in my back garden. Other than that, I had literally zero agricultural or horticultural experience. Everything I’ve done in life is about researching and finding out for myself, teaching myself everything, making those mistakes, and building that knowledge. My philosophy in business has always been to become an expert, become an authority, and half the battle is won.”
Looking back, a significant amount of Tom’s cannabis know-how and experience at BRITISH CANNABIS™ was developed at the Portuguese cannabis farm.
“My philosophy in business has always been; to become an expert, become an authority and half the battle is won.”
Without any consultants on board, Tom reached out to Joaquin Real (the current Farm Manager) who had been with the business since day one. Initially in the UK assisting with production and operations in 2019, he wanted to move back to his homeland Portugal.
It seemed like a perfect opportunity to support Tom, assisting with all aspects of the business, from production to maintenance, construction, and major renovations of the extraction facility. Earning him the nickname “Jaque of all trades”, he is a true legend in his own right and an integral part of the BRITISH CANNABIS™ team.
“Without me speaking the language and being there 24/7, having Jaque there kickstarted farming operations into overdrive”, says Tom. “The farm was overgrown and there was a lot of work to do. The first six months was just getting back to something we could work with.”
Then Filipe came along as Tom was going to be implementing growing practices that had never been done before. Master grower, Filipe Pereira, had years of experience growing cannabis and had a clear passion for horticulture. In general, his knowledge was vast and had a natural affinity with Mother Nature. Without a blueprint, the team pioneered everything from the ground up, leaving no stone unturned.
It took BRITISH CANNABIS™ two years to select the genetics they wanted. Because every single seed has slightly different DNA, they started off with a selection of 250 different seeds, and over the course of two years, slowly whittled that down to a selection of 20 which had the strongest genetics.
“We took these seeds cloned them and reproduced them to build a really strong genetic pool”, explains Tom. “From selecting the clones to nutrition, to testing the soil, everything was a process we worked out. I was on the farm every day, living and breathing every aspect of its development.”
No detail was overlooked. Take the lighting for example; no off-the-shelf solution was acceptable. For months, he researched different types of LED and light spectrums, building the grow lights from the ground up. Tom considered everything, from light metres to the span of lights, and the distance of lights. He studied them to see how he could get the very best out of them and built them from a component level into a finished unit.
Learning everything about cannabis is essential. Soil, crop rotations, ventilation, not to mention the ongoing battle with pest control. Hiring
contractors is the easy way, but again, Tom looked at it from a ‘ground up’ perspective, researching every technology and bit of data that could make their operation better than the rest.
“Once we installed the first prototype ventilation system, we created smoke bombs. It’s amazing what you learn when you have a team of scientists and a big bag of nitrate from the garden centre. We did that to fill the room like a wind tunnel and visualise the movement of air because one of the biggest aspects of growing cannabis is removing the oxygen and introducing CO2 to the plants”, Tom remembers. “Things didn’t always go to plan; I nearly blew up the kitchen creating the smoke bombs in the process!”
With a whole new playground, including lots of new equipment, the team were having fun, all the time learning at every stage. These aspects he may have failed to understand by using a contractor. Each of the elements affected how successful he was at growing.
Despite holding the title of CEO within the company, Tom considered himself a farmer. There was no role in the operation that kept him away, keeping a close and loving eye on things.
“After six months, I relocated to Portugal”, he says. “Being out there day and night in the fields
dealing with problems I began to see these plants as living beings, seeing them grow up from little seedlings, nurturing them, taking care of them and being with them every day”, he says. “They all had names, well numbers, but we got to know and love our selection like they were our family”
Living his dream, Tom was now growing buds larger than his leg. The goal had been realised. Finally, he had a clear understanding of plants, and what they required to be healthy. Realising that his crops get stressed by their conditions was probably the most insightful thing that came out of the process. Tom was never expecting to have such a deep connection with nature around him.
“It’s like they were my little babies”, explains Tom. “Just as you grow an emotional connection to your children, I grew a connection to the plants, especially if they were sick. We had a break in one time and a lot of the plants got cut down, it was emotional.”
This connection is one most CEOs and business owners don’t have. When other cannabis companies invest in farms, they do a site visit every now and then. In this case, it became Tom’s life for two years. Living and breathing cannabis every second of the day, with the team, living on the farm or very close
by. It became their sole community during the pandemic, restricted from travelling, they knew nothing but the farm and plants.
After five years at the farm, BRITISH CANNABIS™ will launch a new extraction facility 10 minutes’ drive away, using equipment from the UK to process exciting new products.
“The brand new state-of-the-art facility will be in an old wine-making warehouse with a lot of heritage”, Tom says proudly. “It’s a blank canvas for us to move all our extraction equipment there and restart what we have been doing for years in the UK, but on a bigger scale. It just makes sense to have it located by the farm.
Pioneering yet again, BRITISH CANNABIS™ are now growing and researching the cannabis root. Tom believes it has a lot of massively beneficial phytochemicals, terpenes and other properties that are beneficial to health. For hundreds of thousands of years, people have been using cannabis root teas for traditional medicines. Vastly forgotten about, Tom will reproduce the root in his facility and soon will be included in an upcoming clinical trial they are spearheading in partnership with a leading UK university.
And finally, Tom is to open up the farm as part of an ‘Experience Location’, as only a handful of people have been there, including most of his staff.
“When I was a child, my parents took me to the Bodyshop factory because they had tours showing how they made things, and even to this day it’s a memory,” he recalls. “That gave me great insight into how things are made on that scale. It’s an experience I will never forget.”
The BRITISH CANNABIS™ farm in Portugal expects many visitors keen to see real cannabis growing. Staying in overnight accommodation, guests will meet the team, produce foods with cannabis, and get to see the inner workings of the factory and extraction facility.
Ultimately, Tom wants to share his journey, the BRITISH CANNABIS™ story. What better way to do this than by bringing people to his farm.
Contact: Tom Whettem britishcannabis.org
Email: info@britishcannabis.org
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In 2016, CEO, Tom Whettem, had just founded BRITISH CANNABIS, but it was the work in the lab that sparked the real birth of the company we see today. It’s almost impossible to imagine BRITISH CANNABIS without its laboratories, becoming the foremost experts in their field and utilizing vast technical resources to research cannabis.
The very first dedicated cannabis R&D facility, analytical labs, and extraction facility in the UK. An entire laboratory was built to house
state-of-the-art equipment; quite a feat for someone who wasn’t interested in science at school. A firm believer in the saying ‘you can only teach what someone wants to learn’, Tom is now at ease surrounded by complex instruments, undertaking research, authoring technical safety dossiers, and pioneering clinical studies.
However, the reality of having a cannabis lab is not an easy task. So, how did BRITISH CANNABIS do it?
BRITISH CANNABIS has been responsible for countless UK industry firsts; first golden extract, first THC-free extract, first clinically proven cannabis cosmetic, and the first water-soluble CBD.
The extensive study of cannabis by BRITISH CANNABIS has produced so many innovative pioneering developments. Spearheading change is commonplace for BRITISH CANNABIS with its products being copied by everyone else in the industry.
“What we have done has led to what intrinsically makes BRITISH CANNABIS completely different, light years ahead of anyone else in the UK industry”, explains Tom.
It all started when the extracts from Europe did not meet the exacting standards BRITISH CANNABIS required, so they set about making their own.
As a result, the scientific part of the business became his massive playground. With state-of-the-art equipment, Tom built his own ‘Breaking Bad’ lab, doing eccentric lab experiments, and building everything from the ground up.
A clear dedication to excellence was the only option. Tom and his team singlehandedly developed their ethanol extraction, bucking the trend while the rest of the industry was using CO2. Trial and error was the order of the day. “Getting things wrong was part of the process for me”, says Tom. “I love when things go wrong as that’s where I shine the most”
“I could do what I wanted; I didn’t have to follow protocol. It was how science used to be done. You just experiment and experiment until you get it right. I was a bit like a kid at Christmas with a science set, just on a much larger scale.”
The result was building a system from the ground up with new untested theoretical methods and completely ignoring what the rest of the industry did. They produced something that was simply light years ahead.
A year’s hard work resulted in the first golden extract ever to be seen in the UK, superseding the inferior dark tarry, wax-like extract that was extremely bitter tasting. Containing very little CBD, it tasted so awful, many people wouldn’t use it.
While taste, aroma, and appearance were the main objectives, when all of those building blocks were in place, the resulting extract was achieving 50% purity. Exceeding every expectation, it was amazing compared to what was out there; Tom had created the ingredient to produce the champagne of all CBD oils.
“What we produced was a golden elixir, reminiscent of a clear, golden honey that had beautiful aromas and tastes from the natural cannabis terpenes”, explains Tom. “To our surprise, we achieved something we thought impossible on a completely theoretic system.”
Having justified his journey and multimillion pound investment into the BRITISH CANNABIS sciences, Tom expanded the team, bringing in scientists to accelerate the growth of the scientific division.
CBD, or cannabidiol, is one of over a hundred different cannabinoids found in plants from the cannabis family. The most famous of these, THC, induces the recognised “high” effect.
“As part of creating the first golden extract, we still had the issue of THC. If we wanted to make it a viable commercial success and become the market leader, we had to be compliant. Nearly all CBD product at the time were not compliant, so we started looking at how to remove the THC”, Tom recalls.
Over two years, BRITISH CANNABIS further developed methods to break down cannabis on a molecular level with the aim of removing the THC, once again, pioneering methods that had not been used before. Their goal was finally achieved and the ability to essentially break down the cannabis plant’s DNA and recombine it was the stepping stone to what really propelled BRITISH CANNABIS to be the scientific pioneers they are today.
This resulted into a vast knowledge of phytochemicals, allowing BRITISH CANNABIS to start mapping all the compounds in the cannabis plant. Just like the periodic table, Tom and his team started building knowledge on each of them, undertaking the largest literature review of its type that they are aware of.
“Cannabis includes cannabinoids, terpenoids, flavonoids, phenols, EFAs, and much more”, says Tom
“There exists nearly every compound you can find in the natural remedy section of your local health store. It was at this point that I had the realisation that cannabis was like this phytochemical super-factory that not only contained CBD, but hundreds of clinically proven compounds that benefit your health”
By gaining such a deep understanding of the DNA of cannabis, they garnered the ability to break it down in to the building blocks of life and rebuild it.
We know more, because we do more
“What fundamentally makes BRITISH CANNABIS so superior to everyone else is being involved with the process. My experience allows me to make some very clear decisions on the commercial direction we take as a business”, he says. “I get a macro view of the business, the farm, the formulations, the compliance, and everything else. With all those bits of information, I know what’s the best commercial decision to make.”
Surpassing everyone else, the industry soon caught up with Tom, and within a year, everyone was buying from them or trying to copy them. If you look at the market prior to all of the work undertaken by Tom and his team and compare it to today, 95% of extracts are golden extracts, and around 90% are using ethanol extractions just like the ones Tom and his team pioneered during an emerging industry.
Tom says, “We always say ‘we know more because we do more’, and that’s so true. We are quite confident in our claims of being the largest authority on consumer cannabis in the UK. No one has even attempted to do what we have. The best thing is that in the next few years, we have even more in the pipeline.”
BRITISH CANNABIS was founded on the guiding principle of changing people’s lives for the better.
We are an organisation of passionate, knowledgable and diverse individuals who believe in the power of the cannabis plant, and we want to share that with the world.
Without this passion and dedication we would not be where we are today.
Emma, AKA Emma B, is an experienced Sales enthusiast and has a passion for living your best life! She has overseen the growth and maturity of many well known companies such as Simply Health and headed large teams of 500 plus!
Emma is an empathetic and passionate individual with an intuitive knack of knowing how best we can implement our premium CBD range to suit your needs, and maximise your stores potential - online or in-store.
Our strategic account manager is a driven, confident, and resourceful professional with over a decade of business development, management, and sales experience in FMGC, wholesale, and retail. Rifhat excels at developing and executing strategy along the entire chain from product design and sourcing through to manufacturing and distribution, working to build lasting relationships with stakeholders and suppliers, negotiating mutually beneficial chains of communication. Rifhat possesses a track record of delivering results.
Steve, our marketing director, has 20 years of experience. A specialist in FMCG categories, shaping the commercial strategy and activation programs for some of the world’s most recognised brands, such as Bacardi, Jim Beam, Southern Comfort, and Walkers.
> Emma Beaumont
> Rifhat Jubeenh
