Medicinal Cannabis in Jersey

Legalisation of Medicinal Cannabis

In 2017 the Minister for Health and Social Services made a statement in the States Assembly following advice received from Jersey's Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council in relation to the Barnes Report, to introduce changes that would "remove the legal barrier currently preventing the medicinal use of specific cannabis-based products".

Responding to a Written Question in January 2018, the Health Minister stated that:

"Preliminary discussions with two potential suppliers of cannabis-based products produced to Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards have recently concluded... Any such supply from the hospital pharmacy against a hospital prescription would be free of charge." ^[1]

Law Drafting Instructions were subsequently issued but not completed, as a consequence of the change in administration after the general elections in May 2018 and the introduction of the proposition to legalise medicinal cannabis later that year.

Following the successful adoption of P.113/2018 Medicinal Cannabis: right to prescribe by medical professionals by the States Assembly on the 6^th November 2018, the Misuse of Drugs (Miscellaneous Amendments) (No. 7) (Jersey) Order 2018 was issued and came into force on the 1^st January 2019 enabling the prescription of cannabis-based products for medicinal use.

Professor Mike Barnes gave a public presentation on medicinal cannabis at the Town Hall shortly after the passing of the legislation, which was streamed live and uploaded to YouTube.

Prescription of Medicinal Cannabis

Unlike the UK where only consultants on the General Medical Council's specialist register are permitted to prescribe medicinal cannabis, in Jersey "all medical professionals with the right to prescribe" can prescribe medicinal cannabis.

However, the medical profession in Jersey has been reluctant to prescribe cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs):

"In terms of guidance regarding prescription, at the moment, GPs have been asked not to prescribe the drugs. Our indemnity for the medical profession is set much higher than the UK... actually we would be highly at risk if anything untoward occurred and there was a negligence claim of some sort. There are lots of reasons at the moment why we would not necessarily be able to prescribe cannabis or cannabis-based products." ^{[2, 3]}

Although Sativex was made available free of charge from the hospital formulary in January 2018, there are still no unlicensed CBPMs available on free prescription in Jersey, replicating the stance of the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE):

"To date, no application has been made for any cannabis-based medicinal product, including Sativex, to be placed on the approved list [of pharmaceutical products funded by the Island's Health Insurance Fund]." ^{[4, 5]}

Because they are not included in the Prescribed List, CBPMs are subject to GST.

As a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 postal prescriptions were permitted for medicinal cannabis, which allowed eligible patients in Jersey to access private clinics in the UK via telehealth consultations ^[6].

News of the availability of medicinal cannabis spread quickly on social media in the local cannabis campaign groups and pages, and was highlighted by James Bedding on his Canna Quad YouTube Channel.

End Cannabis Prohibition Jersey subsequently published A guide to accessing Medicinal Cannabis for eligible patients in Jersey in order to explain the process involved with obtaining a prescription from the UK.

Medicinal Cannabis Clinics

Due to the interest in medicinal cannabis from Island patients, several private cannabis clinics have opened in Jersey since October 2020 with medication dispensed from local pharmacies.

Medicinal Cannabis Dispensing Audit

In May 2022, it was reported that there were estimated to be 3,000 medicinal cannabis patients in Jersey.

An audit of CBPM prescribing data was undertaken in late 2023, which examined the monthly returns provided by pharmacists to the Chief Pharmacist in 2022 and the first six months of 2023.

During the first 9 months of 2022, 4,139 unique patients received medicinal cannabis prescriptions, which equates to 4.89% of the adult population of Jersey.

For comparison, Freedom of Information requests have revealed that between July 2022 and April 2023:

Medicinal Cannabis Prescriptions 2022
Month	Prescriptions Dispensed	Source
January	2,794	^{[ 7 ]}
February	926	^{[ 7 ]}
March	666	^{[ 7 ]}
April	1,435	^{[ 7 ]}
May	1,916	^{[ 7 ]}
June	1,795	^{[ 7 ]}
July	2,720	^{[ 7 ]}
August	3,239	^{[ 7 ]}
September	3,499	^{[ 7 ]}
October	3,088	^{[ 7 ]}
November	1,278	^{[ 7 ]}
December	283	^{[ 7 ]}
=	23,639

Total estimated number of medicinal cannabis patients January to December 2022 = 4,361. ^{[ 8 ]}

Medicinal Cannabis Prescriptions 2023
Month	Prescriptions Dispensed	Source
January	1,272	^{[ 7 ]}
February	3,360	^{[ 7 ]}
March	2,732	^{[ 7 ]}
April	2,695	^{[ 7 ]}
May	2,756	^{[ 7 ]}
June	3,899	^{[ 7 ]}
=	16,714

Total estimated number of medicinal cannabis patients January to June 2023 = 2,880. ^{[ 8 ]}

For reference, a Freedom of Information Request has revealed that 17,506 prescriptions for medicinal cannabis were issued in Guernsey in 2023.

Medicinal Cannabis Imports

Personal Import Licences

Patients utilising medicinal cannabis clinics in the UK require a Controlled Drug Import Licence for every prescription, which since August 2023 costs £25 per licence.

According to figures provided via Freedom of Information requests, the number of monthly personal import licences peaked in October 2020 prior to the opening of local clinics at 176, and have since dwindled to approximately 20 per month in the second half of 2023.

Commercial Import Statistics

Between November 2020 and June 2024, a total of 2,412.125 kg of cannabis flower and 314.084 litres of cannabis oil was imported into the Island for dispensation from local pharmacies.

Cannabis Imported into Jersey in 2020
Month	Cannabis Flower (kg)	Cannabis Oil (l)	Source
November	11.28	8.675	^{[ 9 ]}
December	18.46	0	^{[ 9 ]}
=	29.74 kg	8.765 litres

Cannabis Imported into Jersey in 2021
Month	Cannabis Flower (kg)	Cannabis Oil (l)	Source
January	15.465	18.35	^{[ 9 ]}
February	32	0.75	^{[ 9 ]}
March	90.11	2.5	^{[ 9 ]}
April	13.45	3	^{[ 9 ]}
May	22.4	12.45	^{[ 9 ]}
June	32.595	8.3	^{[ 9 ]}
July	79.5	8.1	^{[ 9 ]}
August	39.5	13.35	^{[ 10 ]}
September	84	0	^{[ 10 ]}
October	42.54	3.46	^{[ 10 ]}
November	51.14	13.05	^{[ 10 ]}
December	40.63	20.25	^{[ 10 ]}
=	543.33 kg	103.56 litres

Cannabis Imported into Jersey in 2022
Month	Cannabis Flower (kg)	Cannabis Oil (l)	Source
January	42.59	13.03	^{[ 11 ]}
February	79.67	1.86	^{[ 11 ]}
March	36.99	3.55	^{[ 11 ]}
April	67.775	9.31	^{[ 11 ]}
May	41.885	2.71	^{[ 11 ]}
June	58.23	7.475	^{[ 11 ]}
July	56.12	3.5	^{[ 11 ]}
August	55.44	6.48	^{[ 12 ]}
September	44.21	6.2	^{[ 12 ]}
October	28.3	0	^{[ 12 ]}
November	61.58	4.395	^{[ 12 ]}
December	136.266	14.76	^{[ 12 ]}
=	709.056 kg	73.27 litres

For reference, in response to a written question asked of the Secretary of State for the Home Department it was reported that 7,762 kg of cannabis was imported into the UK in 2022.

Cannabis Imported into Jersey in 2023
Month	Cannabis Flower (kg)	Cannabis Oil (l)	Source
January	20.226	2.686	^{[ 13 ]}
February	27.271	2.126	^{[ 13 ]}
March	39.501	9.706	^{[ 13 ]}
April	68.055	0.556	^{[ 13 ]}
May	51.17	16.975	^{[ 13 ]}
June	76.191	3.196	^{[ 13 ]}
July	86.25	14.325	^{[ 14 ]}
August	48.45	3.085	^{[ 14 ]}
September	63.55	9.715	^{[ 14 ]}
October	55.75	2.7	^{[ 14 ]}
November	32.965	1.13	^{[ 14 ]}
December	104.62	12.8	^{[ 14 ]}
=	673.999 kg	79 litres

Cannabis Imported into Jersey in 2024
Month	Cannabis Flower (kg)	Cannabis Oil (l)	Source
January	52.6	0.6	^{[ 15 ]}
February	43.4	7.845	^{[ 15 ]}
March	85.3	12.3	^{[ 15 ]}
April	34.2	1.993	^{[ 15 ]}
May	198.3	18.208	^{[ 15 ]}
June	42.2	8.633	^{[ 15 ]}
=	456 kg	49.579 litres

Medicinal Cannabis in the Workplace

The prescription of medicinal cannabis in the Island has led to questions arising over its use by employees, as highlighted by WorkHealth Jersey.

To help advise employers in Jersey, the Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Service published an opinion piece in October 2022 by an English Solicitor on the implications of the Discrimination (Jersey) Law 2013 in relation to prescribed medicinal cannabis:

"There are two competing obligations which employers should consider:

the duty to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate employees with a disability;
taking reasonable precautions to ensure safety of employee and the workplace in line with their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989."

Medicinal Cannabis Research

Results of an audit of 'real-world' patient-reported outcomes following a therapeutic trial of Sativex^® for persistent non-cancer pain within a Jersey pain centre, local guideline adherent, self-selecting patient cohort
Julia Morris, Jonathan Bond, Chad Taylor. Pain News, Volume 17(3) p.154-159. September 2019.