By Clifton Flack, founder of CiiTECH Ltd, a British-Israeli medical cannabis company
Can the British CBD industry set the gold standard for the global medical cannabis market?
In a few short years, taboos surrounding cannabis have been laid bare and open for critical analysis. Like many topical issues before, the digital world has allowed people to share their experiences with the world. The quantity and quality of anecdotal evidence have reached a critical point where the potential for cannabis can no longer be ignored.
Not too long in the past, the accepted rational opinion was that cannabis was bad. Cannabis is bad for your health, bad for your career opportunities, bad for society and surely bad for your own personal health and wellbeing.
Over 60 years ago in Jerusalem, young scientist Professor Raphael Mechoulam discovered CBD, THC and the endo-cannabinoid system. 60 years later this research is now reaching the people that need it the most. Medical cannabis patient programmes are being approved by governments across the world.
In the UK, medical cannabis programmes have not taken root in part due to the issues surrounding THC (psychoactive) parts of the plant. CBD however, the non-psychoactive and safe compound, is 100 percent legal when cultivated from the hemp plant.
Today, the new truth is that cannabis in its many forms and varieties can, in fact, lead to better health, which consequently can have a positive impact on society at large.
The consumer challenge is to be able to identify quality products that can be trusted to be safe. There are dishonest companies peddling unsafe and incorrect formulations, there are companies selling over-priced products to naïve and vulnerable consumers. The global industry requires global standards to ensure and fight for consumer rights.
In the UK, CBD is sold as a food supplement. Consumers in the UK demand the highest production standards when it can impact health. The UK is the first country with a self-regulating body specifically for CBD. The mission is to lay the groundwork for how CBD should be researched, cultivated, produced and sold.
The UK is now emerging as a leader in the medical cannabis world by focusing on CBD and its many health benefits.
Just as with all food supplements, help and guidance from the NHS are unlikely to come. People currently rely upon both recommendation and personal research to find the product and company to entrust with their health.
As the medical cannabis and CBD markets mature, inevitable consolidation will take place. Those companies with proven effective products and compassionate company ethos are the brands likely to thrive and don’t be surprised if many are from the UK.
Find out more at: http://www.ciitech.co.uk/
