Cannabidiol (CBD) can no longer be legally sold in the UK without a medicines’ licence, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has announced.

“We have come to the opinion that products containing CBD are a medicine,” a MHRA spokesperson says. “Products for therapeutic use must have a medicines’ licence before they can be legally sold, supplied or advertised in the UK. Products will have to meet safety, quality and effectiveness standards to protect public health.”

The MHRA said that they “made it clear to manufacturers and suppliers … that they were reviewing the regulatory status of CBD products”. The assessment was performed according to the MHRA’s definition of a medicinal product – such as whether the product treats or prevents disease – “and is not based on whether the product is a risk to consumers”. The MRHA have written to 18 companies marketing CBD in the UK.

“I am surprised by this confused decision,” said Mike Barnes, Honorary Chair of Neurological Rehabilitation at Newcastle University and Clinical Director of Christchurch Group Neurological Rehabilitation. “If the MRHA and the UK Government now consider that cannabis-derived CBD is a medicine, this is incompatible with the continuing Schedule 1 status of cannabis under the Misuse of Drugs Act that clearly states that cannabis has no medicinal value.” 

Professor Barnes, co-author of the recent All-Party Parliamentary report on medical cannabis, added that: “The decision by the MRHA to treat CBD products as medicines has also been done without thought to the consequences for many thousands of people in the UK who currently benefit from the products.” It will have very significant and in many cases terminal impact on the many legitimate businesses that provide high-quality products, he said.

“The Government must now act to sort out their muddled thinking and try to help those people with long-term and often painful conditions who benefit from the ready and hitherto legal availability of natural cannabis products. It is ironic that in acknowledging the therapeutic benefits of CBD, the MRHA is effectively suspending access to a product that has enhanced the lives of thousands for many years.”