A cross-sectional survey of serving police officers has found that over one in four respondents were unaware that cannabis can be prescribed legally in the UK.
The survey, conducted between 24 October and 1 November 2022, was designed by a multi-disciplinary team of academic clinicians and a cognitive neuroscientist. It was then distributed to serving police officers in the UK by Opinium Research. Participants provided demographic information before being asked five questions designed to assess the awareness of current medical cannabis legislation.
200 police officers completed the survey, with 57 (28.5%) respondents replying that they did not know cannabis products were legal on prescription in the UK.
Forty-seven (23.5%) participants had never received formal training on this topic, whilst 85 (42.5%) believed their received training was inadequate. Most police officers (88.5%) said they believed they would benefit from more training on medical cannabis, and how to identify legal medical cannabis patients.
Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK in November 2018. It is estimated that there are now 35,000 patients in the country, a number that is predicted to grow to 62,960 by the end of 2024. Prescribed cannabis can come in the form of flowers, oils, vapes and capsules. While cannabis is available for a limited number of conditions on the NHS, most prescriptions are issued by private clinics.
“Our latest study reveals a significant knowledge gap among UK police officers regarding the legality of medical cannabis,” said study author Dr Simon Erridge, the Research Director at Curaleaf Clinic.
“From the findings, it is clear that comprehensive education is urgently needed.”
A 2022 survey to investigate the perceived stigma attached to patients prescribed cannabis in the UK found that 40.2% of participants were afraid of what the police or criminal justice system, other government agencies, and healthcare professionals might think about their treatment. There have been numerous reports of patients being arrested or detained by police despite being in possession of a legal prescription.
“Police officers have a difficult job and this is made even harder if they are not given the education they need to be able to properly interact with patients prescribed medical cannabis,” said Dr Erridge. “By improving police training, we hope this will help reduce stigma, enhance patient care, and foster a more informed and supportive community for patients.”
“What we would like to see coming from this research is a nationalised effort to provide further education on medical cannabis. As such we wrote to the National Police Chiefs Council at the time the research was first conducted, and have done so again following the publication of the results to both highlight the issue and offer our help.”
