"The Legal Route to Cannabis Profit in the UK" - John Binns writes for Analytical Cannabis

“The Legal Route to Cannabis Profit in the UK” – John Binns writes for Analytical Cannabis

BCL partner, John Binns writes for Analytical Cannabis on the current legal landscape of the UK cannabis industry and potential developments to come.

Here’s an extract from the article*:

“Until recently at least, the casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that the position was rather more nuanced than it is, thanks to eye-catching headlines in autumn last year to the effect that medical cannabis had been legalized.

In reality, the limited exception previously available only to GW Pharma’s Sativex medication had been joined by another, more generally worded exception: for “cannabis-based medicinal products” (CBMPs), though only where prescribed by a specialist clinician (not just a general practitioner), or granted a marketing authorisation by our Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). “

*This article was originally published by Analytical Cannabis on 17th July 2019. You can read the full version here.

John Binns is a partner at BCL specialising in all aspects of business crime, with a particular interest in confiscation, civil recovery and money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (“POCA”). His business crime experience includes representing suspects, defendants and witnesses in cases invoking allegations of bribery and corruption, fraud (including carbon credits, carousel/MTIC, land-banking, Ponzi and pyramid scheme frauds), insider trading, market abuse, price-fixing, sanctions-busting, and tax evasion. He has coordinated and undertaken corporate investigations and defended in cases brought by BEIS, the FCA, HMRC, NCA, OFT, SFO and others.