Bedrocan To The Rescue! British Cannabis Patients Get 6 Months Relief

Post-Brexit scrambles by British patients on imported medical cannabis from Holland gets six-month reprieve with Dutch authorities and UK Home Office both agreeing on a short-term solution

British cannabis patients, who have fought for their children and relatives for years now, were given a sudden victory over cannabis prescriptions in October 2020. Only to have it taken away in December. Now a new government initiative is putting temporary measures in place for the next six months.

It seems like it all should have been taken care of, but like many things related to Brexit, cannabis was just one more thing that fell off the table.

Luckily, the highly vocal activists, according to the Edinburgh News, have managed to step into the breach and an import company in Glasgow has been able to restart cross channel supply. The Dutch government has concurred that as a temporary measure, it can export again, for six months, in a special deal with the British Home Office.

Of course, since the NHS is not yet authorizing the use of cannabinoid oil as the British Paediatric Association has not yet approved the same, families are at the harsh end of costs – around $1,200 a month.

This is not a new story, of course. What is unique, however, is how “fast” relatively speaking, authorities have moved, and in several countries – while failing of course to remedy the financial impact.

It sounds so Germany, with the exception of course that in Europe, this frenzied dance around cannabis started almost four years ago – and so far nobody has a lifetime prescription (as a few patients were beginning to get in the UK as of last fall). 

Regulatory Hell In Several Directions

There is no guarantee of course that the myriad levels of red tape will be cleared even in the next six months – for anything, let alone cannabis specifically. 

In the meantime, this is surely a boost for the domestic British cannabis industry, no matter how nascent it may be. It is also a wake-up call, globally, that the issue of cannabis regulations, in every country and region, needs a massive modern update if not reboot.

If the world is to change, dramatically, post-Covid, cannabis will undoubtedly be part of that mix. 

In the meantime, look for continued bumpy waters, in almost every jurisdiction and renewed activism from every quarter, including the industry for the next 12 months. As the threat of the Pandemic recedes, in other words, there is a very real possibility that frustrated proponents will make real the inevitability of history, finally, that full reform has always been.

Be sure to attend the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Berlin in summer 2021!