The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has closed its latest call for evidence into the impact of medical cannabis legalization, in what will mark the most comprehensive review of the UK's cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPM) framework since it was introduced in 2018. Commissioned by the Home Office on 2 June 2025, the sweeping three-year project aims to re-evaluate whether the UK's current system for prescribing, supplying, and researching medical cannabis is fit for purpose, and whether it has achieved the objectives envisioned when cannabis was rescheduled from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 nearly seven years ago.
While the wider report's findings and recommendations are some way off, this month's new report from the General Pharmaceutical Council's (GPhC) provides the most detailed regulatory snapshot yet of how medical cannabis is being dispensed across the UK.
More importantly, it offers valuable insight into how the ACMD's review may take shape, coming against the backdrop of major industry crackdowns in markets like Germany, Poland and Australia, and concerns from industry similar restrictions could soon come to the UK.
While industry stakeholders will be keen to emphasize some of the inherent issues embedded in the current framework, which patients invariably bear the brunt of, serious questions remain regarding the government's historic response to recommendations by the ACMD.
Read more at Cannabis Health
