Clinical Trials
5000 Medical Cannabis Licences Dispensed in Guernsey
More than 5000 medical cannabis licences have been handed out by the States of Guernsey in 18 months, new figures have revealed.
Doctors on the island can prescribe products privately which are manufactured to a pharmaceutical standard.
Since it was made legal in 2020, there have been over 5000 medical cannabis licences distributed.
Both Guernsey and Jersey have proceeded with medical reform in a way unseen in the U.K.
The Cannabis Industry Council said Guernsey in particular was “leading the way in treating with cannabis”.
Professor Mike Barnes, consultant neurologist and president of the council, said the bureaucracy in the UK was “more difficult to navigate”.
“I think Guernsey is, in many ways, leading the way across Europe in the way they are dealing with and treating with cannabis,” he said.
5000 medical cannabis licenses in the isles, but none on the mainland
The success of Guernsey is a notable contrast to the ongoing problems seen on the mainland.
A major stumbling block has been pushback from authorities and lack of research currently taking place across the UK.
Private clinics such as LVL Health are pushing forward trials but meeting resistance.
Currently chronic pain is not recognized by British medical authorities as a condition they believe can be treated by medical cannabis.
Instead, opiates are the number one prescribed drug for pain relief currently. Main concerns surrounding opioids are their addictiveness and cost. Cannabis is less addictive and could be far cheaper to produce under the right conditions.
1 in 3 Britons suffer from chronic pain, which is the number one cited reason for patients’ medicinal cannabis use in America. Many States have started the legalisation process there, even for recreational use.
