Medicinal Cannabis (932A/22)

2 August 2022 | Operational Policing, Investigations and Events

Request

Response

Please find enclosed our response.

 

1. Does West Midlands Police have any policy in place around educating officers and employees around the legality of medical cannabis?
2. i) If so, please can you provide details? 

No information held

2. Does the force have any guidelines in place for instances when someone is stopped carrying what they describe to be medical cannabis?
3. i) If so, please can you provide details? 

Guidelines have been produced.

Medicinal cannabis law – what you need to know:

• Only a specialist doctor who is on the Specialist Register of the General Medical Council (not the patients GP) can prescribe the medicines.
• Only products meeting the definition of a cannabis-based medicinal product will be available, not home-grown or self-sourced.
• These products must be in an appropriately marked container.
• Any legitimate patient should be in possession of a letter from the specialist doctor who prescribed it.
• Any prescription will be limited to 30 days’ supply.
• No legitimate medicine is consumed by smoking (although vaping is a legitimate route of administration).
• The prescribing of cannabis-based medicines will not become widespread and it is envisaged that the number of prescriptions will be low.
• It is expected that legitimate patients of these products will be fully cooperative with any reasonable police enquiry.
• Where any person found in possession of cannabis suggests that it is a medicine, immediate enquiries might be needed to establish the facts.
• Any unreasonable behaviour of the ‘patient’ in the circumstances, amateur packaging or labelling of the product, or possession of unreasonable quantities might raise suspicions of unlawful possession.
• Anyone administering cannabis-based products by smoking will be committing an offence.

 

3. Are officers aware what documents/evidence are required to identify a legal medical cannabis patient? Information is contained in the Guidelines.  

This is contained within the guidelines detailed above.

 

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