Over the past few years, we’ve seen many Western governments address their past positions on the legality of cannabis and cannabis extract products. While it remains a controlled substance in many states the reality is that countries like Canada and the United States have largely loosened their restrictions when it comes to both the consumption and possession of cannabis products. It does remain that the sale of said products as well as the production of products derived from cannabis remains somewhat of the grey zone in many places. One country that still has pretty strict laws regarding the use of recreational cannabis as well as medical usage is the United Kingdom. So, let’s look at how the United Kingdom has been handling the push for the legalization of cannabis products and what it means for you as a consumer.
So as a consumer and then individual, you might be wondering if you can grow hemp in the UK or if you can potentially purchase products for recreational use. The answer is pretty simple and pretty strict you cannot grow, consume, or possess any gram of cannabis legally. It’s important to understand that when we talk about the restrictions on cannabis in the UK it is not new. Take a look at the history of legislation surrounding the possession and consumption of cannabis products in the United Kingdom. You will see that it has been illegal since the 1920s. Not only that but it was classified as a Class B drug under the 1971 legislation surrounding the classification of controlled substances. While cannabis was ranked as a Class C drug for a few years it went back to Class B in 2009. So, they can see it as one of the strictest legislations surrounding cannabis when compared to other Western countries.
It is important to note though that while the recreational use of cannabis is extremely illegal in the United Kingdom there has still been a loosening of some legislation regarding its medical use. If you look at the recent medical studies that come out of the United Kingdom, you might see that the use of cannabis with lower THC percentages has been used as a potential medical avenue both as oil and pills. The legalization of prescription cannabis as we call it is still pretty recent in the history of the United Kingdom. It was only legalized in 2018. Still, this change of mind from the government allowed many people to benefit from the use of medical cannabis to treat both chronic pain as well as mental illnesses that can cause sleeplessness and depressive states. Even then it’s essential to understand that all this legal cannabis is still cultivated in the UK by people approved by the government. There is currently an impressive 60 hectares of legal cannabis being grown legally in the UK. According to some 2021 numbers, this would add up to almost 350 tons of cannabis per year for medical and scientific purposes.
With this understanding of how the UK handles cannabis products and those who produce them illegally, it’s very clear that there is no real strong push to potentially legalize it in the same way that Canada and the United States did. Even if you look at the upcoming elections in the potential labor win it is very clear that both Tories and labor leaders have no intention to push for more drug reforms that would allow for eventual legalization of cannabis. Still, there is a little bit of hope for many people as we see certain politicians like the London mayor introducing projects that aim to potentially end the prosecution of people who are rested with small quantities of cannabis. This is something we’ve seen in other states where legalization ended up happening. The reality is that many governments realize that it costs a lot of money to the government to spend money prosecuting people who carry small amounts of cannabis, and it costs even more to put them in jail. Only time will tell if legalization and decriminalization of cannabis products is something that could potentially happen in the UK either in the short or long term. So, who knows what the future holds for cannabis and its derived products?
