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Tag: United Kingdom

National Cannabis Awareness Campaign Launched In UK

Written by Marguerite Arnold on March 14, 2022. Posted in Archives, Business.

BRITISH CANNABIS launches new awareness campaign for CBD products

It is not that the British don’t want cannabis reform. They do. It is just their government that does not want to move any faster for (fill in the blank) reason. This is not new. Majorities of populations are all moving into the cannabis reform column as political reform follows, sluggishly, behind.

BRITISH CANNABIS, however, an independently owned producer, manufacturer, and distributor of legal cannabis-derived products, has decided to educate the public about CBD (and of course their own products in the process). The campaign is part of a $650,000 marketing campaign to reach health-conscious British consumers over the age of 45.

It will be broadcast on the SKY and Channel 5 networks, marking the first time SKY has allowed cannabis advertising on its channel since 2019.

The company also began selling its products on eBay this month.

Changing Times

The British cannabis question generally, is in a strange place – namely still very much a grey area. London Mayor Sadiq Khan is moving forward with a pilot plan of decriminalization for London. Other areas may follow suit.

In the meantime, illegitimate operations are being raided by the police, including in abandoned buildings and (even more embarrassingly) in city centres.

Larger entities are beginning to establish themselves (like BRITISH CANNABIS) although it is still a hazardous business.

The ability to advertise is also a clear breakthrough in the entire discussion. This is still a contentious discussion just about everywhere in the American and European media markets.

Could it be that the British are finally evolving with the times?

A Long and Torturous Road

Patients are still finding it very difficult to access cannabis. Project TWENTY21, which was supposed to register 20,000 patients has, so far, only managed to enlist 2,000. Beyond that, it is still a game where only those with money can access cannabis anywhere near “legally” and that only after a major bureaucratic struggle.

Most consumers are still left out of the legal market.

Perhaps this is why the latest campaign is geared towards older consumers. They are the ones with the most money, although thanks to both Brexit and Covid, combined with rising oil prices, inflation shock is rife in the UK.

However, beyond such encouraging steps, there has been little news about the forward progression of reform in the UK so far this year.

For the latest updates on evolving cannabis business news and regulation, be sure to attend the International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin and Zurich this summer!

United Kingdom

British Food Standards Agency To Publish CBD Guidelines

Written by ICBCC-admin on January 4, 2022. Posted in Archives, Policy.

The regulatory agency is about to release a guide of legal CBD products in the UK market

Sometime in the next few weeks, the British Food Standards Agency (FSA) will publish details about the CBD companies and products allowed to remain on sale in the UK market.

The move comes as 210 applications for CBD products are still in consideration. Late last year, the FSA claimed that the reason this document is almost 9 months late is because of the ‘quality of applications” was lower than expected.

It is now expected that the FSA will potentially issue several documents. One is a public list of validated products, the second is a list of applications for products likely to be approved.

While it is a frustrating process for all involved, it does create, at last, a formal regulatory and approvals infrastructure for CBD products specifically.

This puts the UK ahead of several other countries at least on a regulatory front. This includes Germany, where CBD is still technically regulated under the German Narcotics Act (although CBD products are on sale in the country). It also includes Italy and France, which just issued national guidelines for the cannabinoid on December 31.

What Next?

The decision by the FSA could be the regulatory peg that the developing industry in-country hangs its hat on. This will, for the first time, allow a conversation to proceed that well may become the first regulatory schemata for the entire British industry. This in turn may help other cannabinoids, like THC, become more accepted.

So far, tragically, on the THC front, the British government has put the brakes on including medical cannabis as a covered prescription under national healthcare. As a result, the only medical cannabis available in the country is imported and further, not accessible to anyone who cannot afford both the medication and the prescription costs.

The Future of The British Cannabis Industry

It is unlikely that moving events on the continent are going to pass the UK by. Germany has just announced its intention to move forward with full boat recreational cannabis. Luxembourg, Malta, and presumably Luxembourg will all move forward in this year. Beyond this, the French have finally begun to accept CBD as a legitimate cannabinoid.

It is unlikely the Brexited British will sit this one out entirely.

How fast further reform will come, however, is still very much in the air. The silver lining of this cloud, however, is that cannabis reform has moved another step forward in the UK.

Britain, CBD, United Kingdom