UK’s legal cannabis industry grows slowly despite rising private investment

In the Wiltshire countryside, a seemingly unsuspecting greenhouse appears at the top of a hill.

Surrounded by barbed wire and numerous cameras, the Glass Pharms facility is one of the UK’s largest cannabis farms, licensed by the Home Office to grow cannabis for medicinal use.

Its security is so tight that even a group of former Gurkhas reportedly failed to break in when they were asked to test it.

"It has to be this secure, to keep the Home Office happy," CEO James Duckenfield told us.

Since the law changed in 2018 to legalize medical cannabis, the uptake has been seen as slow, particularly within the NHS.

Patients first have to prove that other medications haven’t worked to treat their condition before they can get a prescription.

And the health service is limited in which approved products doctors can prescribe.

However, the gap is being somewhat filled by the private sector, where there is more freedom to prescribe unlicensed medicines, although these are considered to carry a higher risk.

The British pharmaceutical company partnered with Glass Pharms, Mamedica, announced a deal last month with American rapper Snoop Dogg’s investment firm, worth £4.5 million, to help them expand in the UK.

Questions have been raised, though, over whether the endorsement will help improve the availability of medical cannabis or if it risks glorifying the drug’s use and reversing progress.

LBC was shown around Glass Pharms, where our phones were confiscated, and all outdoor clothing had to be removed and replaced with overalls, similar to hospital scrubs.

James Duckenfield, the CEO, explained that they use robots instead of human hands to move cannabis plants through three seasons of controlled light and temperature.

"Not having people in the greenhouse avoids the risk of contamination," he said, "and it ensures that we’re growing the plants with precision."

Opening a metal shutter to show us inside, James said: "You can feel the heat coming through and probably smell the plant at this stage (you could, but the team insisted it wouldn’t affect us).

"And the lights are on today because we don’t have enough natural light coming through."

The room is vast but noticeably was only about 20 percent full.

"The halls aren’t filled because at the moment we don’t have sufficient orders," he explained.

"We have to grow in response to demand rather than speculative growth, which would then create a cache of controlled drugs with which the Home Office wouldn’t be happy."

LBC has been told that the demand is there, though, with an estimated 1.4 million patients in the UK still accessing cannabis illegally to medicate for health conditions.

Doing that, the government points out, carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, while the NHS says acquiring the drug through the illicit market is the ‘most dangerous’ form it comes in.

Zoe, from Hertfordshire, has had a private prescription for cannabis since 2018, to help her deal with ‘life-altering pain’ associated with fibromyalgia, arthritis, and a spinal injury.

She told LBC: "Taking tablets all the time was just numbing it and not making me feel any better, and the cannabis has completely flipped that.

"It has really changed my quality of life—my mental health, my wellbeing, my anxiety."

But for years, Zoe said she felt ignored by the NHS to the point where she started using street dealers, who made her feel ‘dodgy’, just so she ‘could get a good night’s sleep’.

She now pays up to £300 a month for a prescription.

"Ideally, the NHS would get on board with this, because if I wanted to take Tramadol and Codeine and Oramorph, I would get them for free because of my situation," she said.

"But because I chose this, I have to pay for it out of my own pocket. That’s a big hit."

The NHS says it does prescribe and fund medicines that have been licensed as safe by the regulator and has done so for thousands of patients over the past seven years.

But they also say there are unknown risks about the effects of using cannabis for medicinal purposes, which two clinical trials are now exploring further.

Currently, only private clinics routinely prescribe ‘full spectrum’ cannabis—which some experts say provides the benefits from all aspects of the plant.

Only six patients are understood to have obtained full-spectrum cannabis through the NHS.

Jon Robson, founder of Mamedica, told LBC that growing more of the plant in the UK would help reduce the costs associated with it, as well as support the economy and reduce NHS wait lists.

"I would say about 90 percent of products are imported into the UK, from other countries, with 10 percent coming from our domestic supply chain."

"We believe that in order for the market to grow and for us to see significant pickup, we need to see more products manufactured here.

"That’s obviously going to benefit the UK economy, with more companies being created, more jobs being created, and tax revenue feeding back into the economy."

A report this week suggested the UK’s medical cannabis industry, if expanded, could be worth more than £5 billion a year.

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who is co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Medical Cannabis under Prescription, told LBC it has major untapped potential.

"There is a possibility for growth, and we should be looking for all avenues for that. I believe there is a huge market here."

But she’s raised her eyebrows at the private investment in the industry from American rapper Snoop Dogg.

"My personal view is that it doesn’t impress me. Obviously, things need investment, and it’s a good thing to see private investment coming into this sector."

"But we have to do it carefully. We need to make sure it’s being done properly. We cannot glorify the use of medicinal cannabis. That’s what the government is obviously going to be extremely cautious about, and rightly so."

A government spokesperson said: "The NHS funds licensed cannabis-based medicines where there is clear evidence of their quality, safety, and effectiveness. Manufacturers must seek the proper approval before a medicine can be made routinely available for NHS patients."

"NHS England and the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR) have agreed over £8.5m in funding for two world-first clinical trials for cannabis-based products for medicinal use."