The Centre For Medical Cannabis has today announced its plans to launch a legal framework for CBD manufacturers in the UK. The Cannabinoid Industry Quality Charter has been designed to help foster a legally compliant, socially responsible and innovative CBD industry.
Based around 7 pillars, including testing, labelling and marketing ethics, the charter hopes to become a ‘kitemark’ for manufacturers hoping to guarantee their products in the rapidly growing cannabis industry.
The UK CBD market has grown rapidly over the past three years, with a current valuation of £300m. While companies can not make medical claims about the benefits, the estimated 6 million users in the UK report relief from a wide range of symptoms, from chronic pain to anxiety.
The charter has been drafted in the wake of The CMCs study in June 2019, in which blind testing of 30 popular UK CBD brands demonstrated that many of the products on the market did not contain what was indicated on the label. The study found that only 38% of the products were within 10% of the advertised CBD content and 38% had less than 50% of the advertised CBD content. The recommendation of the study was the formation of a cannabis related kitemark, to give consumers trust in the products containing cannabinoids and other substances derived from cannabis available on the market.
Steve Moore, CMC Founder and Director said “Over the past six months we have undertaken the most detailed review of the UK cannabidiol market on behalf of our members. This has included a comprehensive market-sizing exercise and extensive public opinion polling. Our goal is to provide the leadership required to work alongside policy-makers, regulators, producers and retailers to achieve the shared goal of an innovative, responsible, high quality and legally compliant sector. Our new charter will enable us to deliver on this”
The news may not be welcomed by all in the industry, however. Many CBD businesses in the UK are small operations already fighting for customers in a challenging industry. The introduction of an expensive regulatory framework could prove prohibitive, driving up costs for both producers and customers.
