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UK task force suggests CBD regulation shift.
Lawmakers on the United Kingdom’s Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) released a report with recommendations to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday, following Johnson’s request that they “look at ways to refresh the UK’s approach to regulation now that we have left the EU, and to seek out opportunities to take advantage of our new-found regulatory freedom, to support innovation and growth.”
The report, authored by Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP (Chair), Rt Hon Theresa Villiers MP, and George Freeman MP, includes a recommendation on “cannabidiol medicines.”
The problem? “The current regime makes it very difficult for scientists in the UK to conduct pharmaceutical research on potential medical benefits of cannabinoids and medicinal CBD,” the report reads, and “whilst there is in the UK a fast-growing, legal and well established consumer market for medicinal CBD for a range of pain and neurological conditions, current Home Office rules make it impossible for them to be produced here. This means that domestic consumers are relying on imported products and the UK is losing out on a c£1 billion medicines industry.”
Therefore, the task force recommends that “the Government should move the licensing regime for cannabinoid pharmaceutical research and CBD over-the-counter medicines from the Home Office to DHSC/MHRA and create a regulatory pathway for approving these products using an evidence-based assessment of their medicinal effects. At present this is prevented because the rules governing CBD medicines are not properly separated from the criminal law on banned substances derived from cannabis.”
Weedmaps goes public.
The cannabis reviews platform will be renamed WM Technology, Inc. upon its $579 million merger with Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. this week, and listed on Nasdaq as MAPS.
New Jersey Attorney General issues cease and desist letters over businesses engaged in cannabis gifting.
New Jersey voters legalized cannabis last November, but yesterday Attorney General Gurbir Grewal highlighted concerning cannabis activity through cease and desist letters. Specifically, Grewal called out companies that facilitate “gifts” of cannabis or cannabis products that come with, for example, purchases of snack items. A total of four companies are now under investigation for potentially violating the Consumer Fraud Act.
“The CRC is committed to establishing a safe marketplace of cannabis products,” Cannabis Regulatory Commission Chairperson Dianna Houenou said in a statement. “Those trying to preempt the rules and transfer unregulated and untested marijuana items jeopardize public health and undermine confidence in the forthcoming regulated cannabis industry.”
