7 min read
Sam North
For many UK patients, choosing to start medical cannabis treatment can be a decision steeped in a certain level of uncertainty. Despite being a fully legal treatment option since November 2018, the preceding century or so of stigmatisation and misinformation spread about cannabis still shapes how it is perceived today.
As the saying goes, “trust must be earned, not given.” That could not be more true for the UK medical cannabis industry, and it is precisely what we set out to do since opening our doors in February 2024.
Now, that commitment has been officially and independently recognised on a global scale. Along with being the most trusted UK medical cannabis clinic (according to Trustpilot), Releaf is now the first medical cannabis clinic in the world to become B Corp certified.
Read Releaf’s B Corp Impact Report 2026 to see the full findings, progress and commitments behind the certification.
Key takeaways
Contents
B Corp certification is a little different to some of the ‘ethical certifications’ you may have come across before. Rather than focusing on a single product, ingredient, or claim, it assesses a business in its entirety, focusing on the full business model. That includes the way employees are treated, the environmental footprint, the way it engages with regulators and abides by the official governance, and how it treats the community.
Most importantly, it is not a certification that a business can award itself. To join the B Corp list, companies must open up their full operation to outside scrutiny and clear B Lab's demanding benchmarks.
Starting in early 2026, we did just that, and on the 7th of July 2026, we made history as the first medical cannabis clinic anywhere in the world to earn B Corp certification.
Becoming a B Corp certified business meant demonstrating the real and measurable impact we have across all aspects of our operations. B Lab’s assessment looked at four key factors: our people, the environment, our community, and governance. Here is what they found.
A business is only as strong as the team behind it, and for that team to be successful, we believe that they need to always be genuinely supported and valued. This year alone, we welcomed more than 70 new joiners and made 11 internal promotions, while all 160 members of our team have access to extensive external training and a full benefits package. The team has taken part in more than 160 training sessions, including 9 company-wide development sessions and 18 specialised training programmes.
In early 2026, we ran an internal, anonymous employee survey to help us understand how the team really feels about working at Releaf. One of the key measures we were seeking to quantify was our employee Net Promoter Score, a widely used gauge of how likely employees are to recommend their workplace to others.
Instead of a percentage, the Net Promoter Score works on a scale that runs from -100 to +100, with any score over zero showing that more employees would recommend the company as an employer than not. Any score over +50 is considered ‘excellent’.
Releaf scored 63, placing us comfortably in that top ‘excellent’ bracket.
The B Corp Impact Report 2026 also shows that 96% of the team are proud to work at Releaf, with 84% rating their happiness at work at 8 or above out of 10. These findings reflect 3 employee engagement surveys conducted this year.
Our approach to how we negate our environmental impact starts with how we operate. As a fully remote business by design, Releaf has no brick-and-mortar premises to light, heat, or maintain, which lets us operate with a fraction of the carbon footprint of a traditional business. Environmental measures also extend to Releaf Pharmacy, where automatic switch-off lighting, paper reduction and improved recycling are underway.
Beyond the remote model, we also:
Recycle all of our IT equipment responsibly. Nothing goes to the landfill.
Produce no hazardous waste as a business.
Package all of our own branded medical cannabis strains in recyclable aluminium tins. We are the only clinic in the UK to do so entirely plastic-free.
Are in the process of conducting a full environmental risk assessment in 2026 so we can formally and openly track our energy and waste data, which gives us a measured baseline to improve on year after year. This assessment covers our operations, supply chain and pharmacy site, and will help us begin formally tracking energy use and waste generation.
Our supply chain reflects the same values. Our major cultivation partner, Glass Pharms, operates as the world’s first carbon-negative medical cannabis cultivation facility. This sustainable design includes:
An on-site renewable energy plant that converts food waste into clean energy
Rainwater captured and recycled on-site, so no external water is needed.
AI-controlled cultivation to maximise cultivation efficiency
A central UK location which reduces travel miles, a world away from the imported products much of the sector still relies upon.
Redefining how healthcare is offered in the UK means looking beyond our own patient base to the wider communities we serve and operate within by finding both practical and meaningful ways to give back and drive the change needed. Since we started operations, this has come to fruition through several avenues:
Working with police forces across the UK to boost understanding of the intricacies of medical cannabis law. Led by our Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, Rupa Shah, Releaf was the first UK clinic to work directly with the nation's police forces, offering dedicated and clear training workshops for officers. We have also fed directly into the development of the most recent changes to the official UK police guidance on medical cannabis.
Supporting Veterans. Our dedicated veteran support programme gives those who have served the UK access to free initial consultations and three months of Releaf+.
Investing in the local community. Through the setting up of our formal charitable giving policy, we have already sponsored grassroots sporting teams and events, with plans to expand our community fund and reach more local causes as we continue to scale.
Our wider community work also includes charitable partnerships and targeted initiatives designed to help reduce barriers to accessing care for underserved groups.
Even before applying to become a B Corp certified business, this work was being noticed. In 2025, Releaf was named the Young Company of the Year at the Growing Business Awards 2025, and was also shortlisted for the Customer Experience Award, Growing Business of the Year, and Healthcare Business of the Year.
Strong internal governance and a commitment to regulatory compliance is what makes everything else possible. It is how we always make sure that every step we take, whether that be commercial, clinical, or cultural, is one we can stand behind, especially while growing at such a rapid pace.
Accountability is hard-wired into the core ethos of Releaf. Our Board of Directors routinely reviews our social and environmental performance indicators, and the responsibility to uphold and build on these outcomes is reinforced into our employee training, management roles, and performance reviews.
A full commitment to transparency. We are committed to clear reporting on our social and environmental performance.
Fair reward for our team. We are dedicated to becoming an official Living Wage Employer by the end of 2026. This decision was made in direct response to employee feedback on pay transparency.
Measuring the data that really matters. Following our initial D&I survey earlier this year, we are in the process of building a formal reporting framework so we can actively track progress in this area publicly going forward.
Becoming the world's first B Corp certified medical cannabis clinic means we have a formal, independent framework that holds us fully accountable. One that makes sure we always measure the things that some companies deprioritise during a period of rapid expansion, while always reminding us to keep raising the standards we strive for.
As our CEO, Tim Kirby, puts it: “We are growing fast. But growth has never been the goal in itself. The goal is access. The goal is trust. The goal is a healthcare system that gives patients real options, not just the path of least resistance.”
Gold standard certifications, which is exactly what B Corp represents, are how we will always hold ourselves to that ambition, formally and independently, rather than simply assuming our patients, our employees, and the community will take our word for it.
Releaf - Redefining healthcare
It is important to seek medical advice before starting any new treatments. The patient advisors at Releaf are available to provide expert advice and support. Alternatively, click here to book a consultation with one of our specialist doctors.
On the 7th July 2026, Releaf became the first medical cannabis clinic in the world to become B Corp certified. Verified by the non-profit B Lab, the certification sets in stone that Releaf is meeting the highest standard of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability, and has made a commitment to continue improving the way we serve not only our patients, but also our team, and the wider community.
We are proud to announce a new partnership between Releaf and brainstrust, the UK charity supporting people affected by a brain tumour. Together, we want to make sure that anyone living with a brain tumour has access to compassionate, expert care through the most trusted medical cannabis clinic in the UK. Here is what the partnership means and how patients currently in treatment can get in touch.
A recent paper clearly highlights the huge gap between how many adults in the UK rely on illicit cannabis to help control the symptoms of their health conditions, compared to the numberlegally prescribed. An estimated 1.77 million UK adults still self-medicate with street-bought cannabis, with only around 100,000 having a legal UK medical cannabis prescription right now, despite medical cannabis being a fully legal treatment option since November 2018.
