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Isle Of Man Issues First Medical Cannabis License

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Business, Policy.

The island off the northwest coast of England is moving into the medical cannabis game

The Isle of Man, located to the west of the UK and approximately the same distance from England, Ireland, and Scotland, has just become a cannabis-producing country – even if for now still in theory. Namely, this self-governing island also considered a “possession of the crown” since 1828, has issued its first medical cannabis cultivation license.

The treeless island approximately 30 miles long and 10 miles wide is at an interesting crossroads when it comes to its economy. While fishing, agriculture and smuggling were all important parts of the economy in its past, these days offshore financial services, hi-tech manufacturing and tourism make up the majority of the island’s economy.

Cannabis is viewed by island authorities as another interesting opportunity.

Indeed, according to Enterprise Minister Tim Crookall, this development “represents the dawn of a new economic sector.”

An Interesting Path to Market

The progress so far on the island has been slow but steady. The applications to enter the industry were initially issued in June 2021. Unlike other places, the medical license was granted not by the Department of Health, but the Gambling Supervision Commission – which has been tasked to regulate the sector.

Medical cannabis is not yet available on the island, however a license to import and dispense it has also now just been granted – although this will also only be available to those with private healthcare coverage.

The Emerging British Cannabis Island Economy

One of the more intriguing aspects of this development is that cannabis cultivation projects are flourishing not on the mainland – but just off of it. This is true not only of the Manx cannabis cultivation project but what is going on just south of the UK on the Channel Islands. Medical reform is now done and dusted and Guernsey’s government is now openly considering a domestic recreational market.

Beyond this, it is far from inconceivable that such developments will not dovetail, at some point, with ongoing campaigns for broader medical access as well as the now booming CBD market and the nascent fully recreational one on the mainland.

It is easier to pass new kinds of legislation, like cannabis reform, in these smaller, semi-independent jurisdictions – and most of them need some kind of economic development project that will garner export sales to at least the British mainland.

For these reasons, it is likely that the islands around the UK will be hotbeds of forwarding cannabis reform for at least the next decade.

Isle of Man

Covid Pandemic Puts Isle Of Man Medical Cannabis Program On Hold

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

Authorities have delayed a program to authorize doctors to prescribe cannabis describing it as “low priority” during the Pandemic.

The islands around the UK are having a quiet cannabis revolution. Places like the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey and indeed the Isle of Man (off the southern tip of the UK) are moving forward to enact reform of at least the medical kind as green economic development if not critical healthcare for island residents. Unfortunately, plans to enact reform on the Isle of Man have just hit a snag. Health Minister David Ashford has said that the plan is still “on the agenda” but pushed because of the Pandemic.

Ashford said that there were “greater priorities” than introducing new cannabis legislation to the island. Ashford also cited reticence of GPs to prescribe the drug was also an issue.

Currently, per UK law, only specialists can prescribe the drug. This means that the initial visit and screening process is also much more complicated for both patients and the NHS. On a small island, this process gets even tougher.

Critics have suggested that this program should go ahead on schedule anyway and indeed have cited the model followed on the island of Jersey where a small number of general practitioners who operate out of clinics, can prescribe.

Untangling a hundred years of prejudice

Delaying the inevitable, and for any reason, appears to the watchword of just about all authorities, wherever they are, on the topic of reform. This has been true for most of the Pandemic, despite noted successes on a global level and the EU one (see the WHO decision and the European Commission decisions).

Regardless, it is also clear that reform is going to be in the air this spring and in several different ways. Doctors themselves are hardly above the din (in both the UK and Europe). The resulting pressures is forcing the conversation forward, even if, as in this case, step by step and painfully. And with plenty of delay.

And while these circular arguments are still in fashion (no reform equals no doctor education), they are becoming thankfully, rather rarer.

The Intersections of Covid and Cannabis

As the Pandemic drags on and governments repeatedly drop the ball on rolling out Covid medication, more and more focus is coming to bear on the process of cannabis legalization and, at minimum, why at least medical cannabis reform is not rolling right along with it. Including the increasing realization that cannabis might impact Covid symptoms.

Be sure to book your tickets now to the International Cannabis Business Conference conference for investors in Austin as well as the return of the ICBC to Berlin this summer!