UK taskforce urges reform – but will it happen, and will it boost the market?

Future CBD market growth in the UK could be boosted by a recent report from a newly formed taskforce on post-Brexit regulatory change. But how likely is it that the recommendations, affecting both UK hemp companies and CBD consumers in the UK, will be implemented?

On the bright side for CBD market growth in the UK, the recommendations put forward are not as challenging as some of the others listed in the new report from the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform formed of MPs Iain Duncan Smith, Theresa Villiers and George Freeman and a small number of civil servants.

Moving regulation and licensing to sit fully under the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), with cannabinoid and cannabis research coming under the purview of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), makes sense and would likely be welcomed by most interested parties, even though a small amount of bureaucratic territorial in-fighting may remain.

But the relative ease and sense of such a decision is also hampered by it likely being of lower priority to those in charge. However, if prime minister Boris Johnson and his government are looking for a quick announcement to shake things up and show how the UK is already moving in its own direction post-Brexit, then it may be a decent choice – with few of the drawbacks associated with more immediately concerning issues such as fishing rights and exports.

With CBD market growth in the UK predicted to continue to increase and interest from CBD consumers in the country at a high, the lack of plant-derived CBD from UK producers has left the market largely to hemp companies and hemp production from Europe and the US as well as the small amount of synthetic CBD starting to come on stream.

A small change could be an important move and an easy-to-spin triumph of an independent UK to puff to the media. Let’s see if the Tory government chooses it as it scrambles for good-news Brexit stories. 

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Freddie Dawson

Senior news editor

Freddie studied at King’s College, London and City University and worked for publications including The Times, The Malay Mail, PathfinderBuzz and Solar Summary before joining the CannIntelligence team. He has extensive experience in covering fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), manufacturing and technological innovation.