Behind the blue line: Educating police on medical cannabis rights in the UK

Medical cannabis and police in the UK: key points

Uncertainty in police interactions stems from how medical cannabis law is applied in practiced.

Medical cannabis became a legal treatment option in the UK in November 2018.  But, as is often the case with legal milestones, the devil was in the detail. Yes the law changed, but not in a way that opened the floodgates. 

Instead, medical cannabis was classified as an unlicensed special medication which means that it can only be prescribed by a registered specialist doctor and only to patients that have not found relief from standard treatments or therapies. Plus, only licensed pharmacies can dispense medical cannabis, so it’s a system that may well be legal, but isn’t particularly user-friendly.

While six years have passed since legalisation and although over 100,000 patients are believed to have accessed medical cannabis legally, there is, sadly, still a huge gap between what the law says, and what people think it says. 

That lack of clarity has an impact on patients who want to feel safe and confident when consuming their medicine, particularly if they’re travelling or out in public. The stigma around cannabis as a recreational or illicit drug hasn’t vanished overnight just because the law changed - and the result is that many patients still feel anxious about consuming their medicine, especially when out in public or travelling.

But it’s not just patients that are struggling to apply and understand the regulations. 

Medical cannabis clinics like  Releaf aren’t allowed to talk in great detail about the medicines, either. The strict advertising laws in the UK mean that, if we’re not careful, simply explaining how different strains of medical cannabis work or even what they’re good for, could be interpreted as promoting an unlicensed medicine.

And that’s definitely not allowed. 

So we have to take care to offer accurate, helpful information while staying firmly on the right side of the regulators.

So, how do we tackle misinformation and educate the public and society about the laws around medical cannabis when we’re limited to just whispering about it? 

Medical cannabis patients are concerned about police interactions

At Releaf, we decided to meet the issue head-on by exploring one of the most common patient fears: What happens if I get stopped by the police?

It’s a question our doctors hear, our support staff answer daily, and is addressed in our educational articles and blogs - but it just keeps appearing, especially from new or prospective patients.

Can I be arrested for consuming medical cannabis at home? 

What about in public? 

What happens if the police take my medicine away? 

Will I be arrested for driving after taking my medicine?

It’s easy for us to provide the legal answers to these questions, but we also know that legal knowledge isn’t always enough to offer emotional reassurance. 

To create that much-needed seismic shift in the conversation and to help patients feel genuinely reassured, especially by those in positions of authority, we partnered with one of our UK suppliers, Glass Pharms® , to run an in-depth educational workshop for law enforcement officers.

UK Cops and cannabis: let’s talk 

The idea was simple: bring police officers, including expert drug witnesses and investigators working with illegal drugs, to see the entire lifecycle of medical cannabis, from seed to patient delivery. We wanted them to see the highly specialised growing environments, understand the pharmaceutical protocols and hear the experiences of our patients who rely on this medicine. 

The workshop was hosted at the Glass Pharms facility and attended by a team from Warwickshire Police. 

For many of the attendees, their only experience of cannabis was in the context of criminality. So they talked to me about the typical illicit grows they were called out to, how they dealt with antisocial behaviour and their response to drug-driving incidents. And in return, they got the opportunity to walk into a highly secure, sterile, tightly regulated pharmaceutical environment and be presented to by me, Releaf’s Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, in my bright red scrubs.

An important question the officers asked was how to verify if someone carrying medical cannabis was a legitimate patient? 

I explained the basics - that patients should present a valid prescription and ensure their medicine was in its original container. But what really got their attention was the Releaf Medical Cannabis Card. The card allows officers to quickly verify a patient’s identity and check their live prescription status. It’s not compulsory to carry, but it definitely makes life easier, both for patients and the police. 

How did the police respond to this medical cannabis workshop?

After the workshop ended, James Duckenfield, CEO of Glass Pharms, kindly took the group on a tour of the growing facility, which gave me the opportunity to chat to the officers and gather their feedback on how they’d found the workshop and what they considered most useful. 

They expressed some surprise that ‘medical’ cannabis is technically the same product that they routinely seize from illegal farms and dealers, and were interested in learning about the chemical components and active compounds found in the plants. They were also very curious to see the plants being nurtured under strict pharmaceutical protocols. 

The officers were genuinely impressed by Releaf’s patient screening protocols, the clarity of our guidance on driving laws and the Q&A materials I provided for typical police-patient encounters. 

Most encouragingly, they said they were keen to pass on this knowledge to their colleagues by adding the workshop presentation to their internal police intranet. That’s a huge win for us and our patients because the more officers we can educate, the more confident and reassured our patients will feel that they will be treated with dignity and respect.

How police understanding is evolving at a national level

Since that first workshop, the conversation and my involvement in helping educate or police forces has extended beyond individual forces.

I was recently invited to present to the National Police Chiefs’ Council National Substance Misuse Working Group, where discussions included the ‘patients first, suspects second’ approach to medical cannabis in policing practice. The focus of that session was how existing law is applied in operational settings, much like my previous sessions. 

Medical cannabis has been lawful on a prescription basis since 2018. The legal framework is established. What we are seeing in practice is variation in how that framework is interpreted at the point of encounter.

Cannabis does not distinguish itself visually based on legality. Officers are often required to make initial decisions before full verification is available, and that is where uncertainty stills tends to arise.

Several recurring issues were discussed.

• The basic fact that the classification of cannabis as a prescribed medicine is not always clearly understood in frontline settings is an ongoing issue. 

• Lawful prescription and impairment are sometimes treated as the same question.

• Private prescriptions are, in some cases, viewed with scepticism despite being legally valid. Even when patients have the valid ID and prescription paperwork available for officers to examine.

As medical cannabis becomes more present in everyday policing, there is a need for consistent, evidence-based decision-making across forces.

Bridging the gap: Medical cannabis knowledge

The police education workshop is just one part of Releaf’s wider mission to bridge the medical cannabis knowledge gap. Since Releaf was first established in 2023, and opened its virtual doors in 2024, we’ve made education one of our core pillars. We publish at least 3 blogs per week, many of which tackle the legal and practical realities of being a medical cannabis patient. 

This work increasingly extends beyond patient education, particularly where consistent application of medical cannabis law is still developing in practice.

We’re also regularly featured in mainstream news outlets and our FAQ and myth-busting videos (featuring many of our very talented doctors) have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on social media. Add that to the 3 blogs we publish every week, and you can see how dedicated we are to tackling the stigma and providing accurate, responsible and up-to-date information about all the key issues on medical cannabis that matter to our patients and the wider public. 

Is it enough?

I don’t think the pressure should be placed on individual patients, or even on clinics, to address all the misinformation and confusion around medical cannabis law. There need to be consistent, standardised guidelines across the sector. 

All clinics and organisations (including the not-for-profits and advocacy groups) across the sector should be held to the same high standards when it comes to educating patients and engaging with professionals. We need to empower patients to advocate for their rights, their needs, and their health, without wondering if they’ll be met with suspicion instead of support.

Final Thoughts from Rupa Shah

The response from Warwickshire Police was clear: education works. It builds understanding, reduces stigma, and improves outcomes for everyone, from patients to police officers, and beyond to the wider public. 

We are always willing and ready to host more workshops with police forces across the UK. We know change doesn’t happen overnight, but it does start with open and transparent conversation, which we are always happy to be a part of. 

At Releaf, our role extends beyond prescribing. It includes supporting clearer understanding of medical cannabis across the systems patients interact with, including law enforcement, so that lawful treatment is recognised and handled appropriately in practice.

If you are considering medical cannabis, you can check your eligibility today with our medical cannabis eligibility checker. It’s free, takes less than 20 seconds, and provides a clear indication of whether treatment may be suitable for you.

Releaf - let's rethink healthcare