CBD – DEATH BY REGULATION

The CBD industry continues to jump through a frustrating number of hoops to remain legal, but the liberalisation of cannabis law seems close at hand.

BY HUW PRYCE

The cannabis industry has undergone significant changes since the beginning of this century. Back in the 90s, there was barely a legitimate trade at all. Even the cultivation of hemp bred to be nonpsychedelic was illegal in many countries.

As any cannabis campaigner will tell you, hemp is a hugely useful crop. The plant’s famous recreational element, however, provided the lever for its prohibition. For decades, in the UK and much of the rest of the world, even research into its therapeutic elements could not be conducted.

While it is still illegal to produce cannabis in the UK, except under strict conditions, it’s easier to grow low THC hemp. This ‘wiggle room’ between hemp and cannabis, has led to a burgeoning industry providing the non psychedelic element cannabidiol or CBD.

It is illegal to sell CBD products as medicinal; the sector must walk a borderline path between medicine and snake oil salesmanship without wandering into either. Despite this, however, cannabidiol has found its way into many products, and the sector has grown to a sizeable lobbying group.

This newfound respectability is fragile, however. Cannabis is not yet viewed as a hill to die upon by MPs and ministers, and the industry is keen to both safeguard and enhance the reputation of CBD and practices around it. Sian Phillips, MD of the Cannabis Trades Association (CTA) is the one responsible for this. Recently, she recruited Welsh Police & Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones as a patron to the professional body.

Phillips is concerned with the many hoops her sector must jump through to remain legal. “CBD has become an ingredient in health foods and in creams and balms. To meet the need to fit this product into a legal framework, it was granted Regulated Food status. The law around Regulated Foods is complex and one aspect of the CTA is helping members with compliance. We have teams offering legal advice to ensure members stick to the rules. Perception of our products is fragile in the public mind, and in that of lawmakers.

“There’s no single regulatory body in the UK for cannabis. Changes in regulation can quite often happen swiftly and seemingly unannounced.” The CTA exists to ensure fulfilment by its members, reducing any negative impact and reputational damage to both the industry and business owner alike.

A major problem facing the industry is one increasingly common in the modern world; misinformation. In addition to the old Reefer Madness propaganda of the War on Drugs, a “miracle cure” trope threatens to obscure the real medical and therapeutic gains. A major task ahead is to impose clarity.

The boundary between medicine and health food is of increasing significance. In the UK, the pharmaceutical route to respectability opened the door to liberalisation, with high profile cases such as that of Billy Caldwell The Boy Who Changed the Law (Influence Q1 2019) highlighting the unique efficacy of the drug for certain conditions.

It is now legal to prescribe full spectrum cannabis containing the psychedelic element, THC, in the UK, and in December 2020 the WHO voted narrowly to remove cannabis from Schedule IV of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, paving the way to further possible reforms. Instances of prescription are still low in the UK, and restricted largely to private medicine prescribed by consultants. For the most part, the NHS is not getting involved.

But private prescriptions are expensive. Groups such as The Sapphire Foundation have been set up to assist sufferers who lack sufficient funds, through profile-raising public events and fundraisers. Others such as End Our Pain exist to lobby and campaign for further relaxation of prescription practices. End Our Pain’s website opens with a letter to send to your MP.

Neurologist and cannabis advocate Prof. Michael Barnes is upbeat but frustrated with the current situation: “Only hospital consultants can prescribe, not GPs, which I think is a pity… I think GPs would be very good prescribers. Basically though, it’s the reluctance of the deeply conservative hierarchy of the medical profession… it’s going to take a lot of effort to get them to change their minds that this is actually a safe and efficacious medicine. I’m not saying it’s totally safe, I’m not saying it works wonders for everybody, but it’s a very good medicine.”

The WHO ruling has shortened the odds. “In the coming year we’ll be looking to persuade the UK authorities to look into the classification, with an eye to cutting through some of the red tape…”

Even the psychedelic aspect of cannabis has undergone an element of rehabilitation, with decriminalisation of recreational use becoming increasingly fashionable internationally.

Stephen Oliver of Canna Consultants, which serves the whole cannabinoid industry, including the recreational sector, at an international level, says “We’re reaching the end of a century of prohibition.”

“Politicians, civil servants, from medical practitioners to school children need to be educated on a plant that has been stigmatised in history”

The three sectors of the industry have convergent goals. The medics seek to broaden research and prescriptive powers, to exploit the still unexplored chemistry of the plant. The supplements sector is concerned with avoiding further legal restrictions on its remit. The recreational industry, or at least the more respectable end of it, wishes for decriminalization or legality.

Image management, lobbying and influencers will all have a significant role to play going forward. The industry is gaining ground in its search for support. CTA Patron Arfon Jones isn’t alone in his support for a change of tack. The website of the Conservative Drug Policy Reform Group quotes The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Drug Policy Reform and former party leaders Baron Hague and John Major on its front page, all calling for liberalisation of cannabis law.

Cannabidiol was formally drawn into EU Regulated Foods status in 2018, subjecting the supplement industry to food safety regulations. Brexit has seen a change in the regulatory bodies, and Novelty Foods are now known as Regulated Foods, as responsibility for legislation passes to the UK. This change represents an opportunity for a review of the rules, for which a lobbying agency would be a key element. However, suppliers wishing to export to EU countries must still comply with EU Regulated Food specifications and register all products with both the UK and EU authorities.