Cultivating of cannabis for medicinal use should not make farmers eligible for agricultural loans, a former Jersey Health Minister has argued. Deputy Karen Wilson has proposed an amendment to the 2026-29 Budget that would specifically exclude medicinal cannabis from a £5 million funding package planned by the government for its Agricultural Loans Fund.
Deputy Wilson, who served as Health Minister from July 2022 until the start of 2024, stated in the accompanying report that supporting medical cannabis cultivation was "a high-risk, commercially-driven business" and that public funding was "misaligned with Jersey's most pressing public health and environmental health needs, particularly those relating to people experiencing severe mental illness as consumers of medicinal cannabis products".
She added: "The intention is to protect the purpose of the agricultural loans scheme, which is to support traditional agriculture, horticulture, and food production, and to ensure that public funds are not used to subsidise medicinal cannabis operations but instead focused on supporting food resilience and climate change initiatives in the Island.
"Cannabis is not equivalent to tomatoes or flowers – it has active pharmacological compounds which have medicinal effects and clear risks if misused. Growing a controlled drug for medical use is pharmaceutical manufacturing and should not be 'rebadged' as a horticultural product simply to justify public subsidy."
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