UK Laws relating to Cannabis
and Discrimination: 

An Introduction

Despite the law changing in relation to Prescription Cannabis in 2018 (discounting products like Sativex that already were, albeit scarcely), it's astonishing how many members of public and public bodies still don't seem to know.  So I've put together this collection of legal information that may be of use.  It's in alphabetical order of publication or law, and the sections highlighted entirely in bold are of more specific interest to those holding current prescriptions.  To the best of my knowledge this is all up to date and correct at time of writing, but there'll continue to be an update date at the bottom of the page.

I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT PRESCRIPTION HOLDERS FAMILIARISE THEMSELVES WITH THE DRIVING SECTION AND GUIDANCE SECTIONS. I must hasten to add that I've never had issues where my prescription caused conflict, so please don't perceive these sections as a cause to worry. I'm just well aware that there are others less fortunate, and in the absence of people knowing this stuff, it's far better to know it yourself, preferably before you're under stress in a situation where you need to.  Stay safe, people! You're doing nothing wrong so don't let others make you feel otherwise. Try to stay calm and respectful of others and you'll likely fare better and try to remember, many people through no fault of their own know about any of these laws. It shouldn't be, but it's part of the job of patients now to ensure this changes.

NB. This is information about the law, not legal advice. My commentary is my own opinions, to provoke thought as much as anything.

New (trialling) Feature

Click the coloured link below to get to the law or publication you need quickly. They're listed in alphabetical order

1. DRUG DRIVING SPECIFIED LIMITS (UK Government)

2.DRUGS OFFENCES (and other CPS Guidance) (Crown Prosecution Service)

3. Drugs Penalties (UK Government, Crown Copyright)

4. EQUALITY ACT (2010)

5. HEALTH and SAFETY at WORK ACT (1974)

6. Home Office Circular (Rescheduling of Cannabis)(2018)

7. Home Office Drug Licensing Factsheet (UK Government)

8. MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT (1971)

9. MISUSE OF DRUGS (DESIGNATION)(England, Scotland, Wales) ORDER (2015)

10. MISUSE OF DRUGS REGULATIONS (2001)

11. PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES ACT (2016) 

12. ROAD TRAFFIC ACT (Section 5A)(1988)

13. FURTHER READING

1. Drug Driving Specified Limits

NB. It is legal to drive if the have a valid prescription but as with any other type of medication, do not drive if you feel impaired.
Legislation.gov.uk: Drug Driving Specified Limits Regulations (2014 original version)
This states that 2mcg of THC per litre of blood is the legal limit, You’ll note that this was set, prior to the law change, but it hasn’t been updated and only the original version is available,
at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2868/contents/made [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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2. Drugs Offences (CPS June 2024 update)

Crown Prosecution Service: Drugs Offences (June 2024 update)
Mainly relates to recreational (i.e.non-prescribed), but this excerpt is pertinent to prescription holders:
“The mitigating factors for the possession of a small amount of cannabis for personal use include: 
No previous record of a Cannabis Warning /a PND being issued.
No previous related convictions.
Compliance with investigation.
Evidence demonstrating the cannabis is being used to alleviate symptoms associated with a chronic medical condition."
(CPS, 2024)

Available at: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/drug-offences#_Toc68181645 [Accessed 28 December 2024]

Crown Prosecution Service: Legal Guidance: Psychoactive Substances Act (2016, CPS page update November 2023)
Available at: https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/psychoactive-substances [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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3. Drugs Penalties (UK Government, Crown Copyright)

Confirms Cannabis AND synthetic cannabinoids as Class B drugs, and explains the relevance of both this (the Class influences sentencing guidelines) and the influence of the Psychoactive Substances Act (2016)
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/penalties-drug-possession-dealing [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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4. EQUALITY ACT (2010)

EQUALITY ACT (2010): How disability is defined.
Government Equalities Office: Guidance
Disability: Equality Act 2010 - Guidance on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability (HTML) (Mar 2013 update)
Here is the UK official definition of a disability, which would likely be relevant to most people prescribed cannabis. You are also being discriminated against in this context if you are being treated less favourably than someone prescribed something without the stigma and judgement attached:
“The Act generally defines a disabled person as a person with a disability. A person has a disability for the purposes of the Act if he or she has a physical or mental impairment and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. “

Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-guidance/disability-equality-act-2010-guidance-on-matters-to-be-taken-into-account-in-determining-questions-relating-to-the-definition-of-disability-html [Accessed 28 December 2024]

EQUALITY ACT (2010)
I’ve outlined protected characteristics and definition of disability, but entrenched historical beliefs and lack of legal awareness mean that most patients have suffered discrimination at some point and there are numerous reasons why they feel unable to address it at the time, even if they know their rights. If you wouldn’t get sent outside using another medication you shouldn’t with cannabis, but I understand that in less spacious or poorly ventilated areas, it may not be that simple. The ‘passive’ issue is believed to be basically, nil, (you can read more about this in the Guidance Section, ‘Use in public buildings’, studies) but even if it must be outside, surely a place away from passive smoke isn’t too much to ask. One thing I’ve learned since I became a wheelchair user is that can’t accommodate and won’t accommodate are not the same thing but to put prescription holders with smokers strongly suggests to me that wilfully or otherwise, it’s being treated as comparable to a nicotine vaporizer. Understandable given the same term is used (though the device is different) for cannabis delivery devices, rather than other medicines, hence entirely the wrong policies are being applied. In my view, incredibly loud conversations are no less anti-social (than it’s perceived as), but again, they seem commonplace and unchallenged. Even as a wheelchair user, I try to go outside when I can (even though I’m told regularly by others and staff that I don’t need to), because I’m aware that people don’t always want to be around it. But there’s too much skirting around the conversation of how much of these issues are based on residual stigma I think, and patients and recreational consumers will continue to suffer until this changes.
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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5. HEALTH AND SAFETY
AT WORK ACT (1974) (HSE)

Here is an excerpt from Section 2, part e, General duties of employers to their employees:

“the provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work”.
(HSE, Oct 2014 update)

Remember that many employment policies are outdated and don’t take into account, or display awareness that Prescription Cannabis became legally available in 2018. It seems reasonable to remember the standard warning from medicine leaflets ‘don’t drive or operate machinery if you feel impaired’. If you’re safe to drive, you’re surely safe to do the benchmark of hazardous work, working on this principle, but workplace policies may well not reflect this logic so you may need to go through the proper channels to negotiate for your own circumstances. One issue I’ve heard raised more than once, which is entirely valid and understandable (but means they’re missing out on legal prescription that they could access when they actually needed it): That if someone approaches their employer to ask what ‘reasonable adjustments’ they’d make before deciding whether to apply for a prescription, if their employer reacts unfavourably, they may have de facto disclosed that they consume cannabis, and may therefore have becoming at risk of discrimination, including via more aggressive drug testing requests, or verbal aggression, for instance.

Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/37/section/2 [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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6. Home Office Circular (Nov 2018)

Home Office Circular confirming the rescheduling of cannabis in November 2018. This is an essential link to have to hand if you are a prescription patient, as it’s the one that confirmed that cannabis would legally be available on prescription. Schedule 1 meant that it was legally viewed to hold no therapeutic value, so in that sense, this was a milestone. Here is an excerpt:
“We are amending the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (“the 2001 Regulations”) and Misuse of Drugs (Designation) Order 2015 to reschedule cannabis-based products for medicinal use in humans to Schedule 2 of the 2001 Regulations and to impose additional access and administration restrictions in relation to these products. This means that from today (1 November) there will be a legal route for cannabis based products for medicinal use to be prescribed by doctors on the General Medical Council (GMC) specialist register in the strictly controlled circumstances required by the 2001 Regulations without the requirement for a Home Office licence.”
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/circular-0182018-rescheduling-of-cannabis-based-products-for-medicinal-use-in-humans/rescheduling-of-cannabis-based-products-for-medicinal-use-in-humans-accessible-version [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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7. Home Office Drug Licensing Factsheet
Cannabis, CBD and other Cannabinoids

 (updated October 2024)
An interesting quote from this document explains how the specific cannabinoids are legislated individually. Basically, because the law obsesses over the psychoactivity of a substance (mind altering, essentially, which I argue almost everything is), if it can be made into, or could develop into THC, it’s the tightly controlled element:
“19. The acid precursors [footnote 4] to THC include 2-carboxyl ∆9-THC (also referred to as ∆9-THCA-A) and 4-carboxyl ∆9-THC (also referred to as ∆9-THCA-B), and will be jointly referred to here as “THC-A”. As an isolated substance, in its pure form, THC-A would not be controlled under the MDA 1971. However, it is understood that THC-A readily degrades both naturally, and with a catalyst or environmental change (e.g. heat) to THC which is a Class B, Schedule 1 controlled cannabinoid”.
Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cannabis-cbd-and-other-cannabinoids-drug-licensing-factsheet/drug-licensing-factsheet-cannabis-cbd-and-other-cannabinoids#acid-precursors-and-their-control-status [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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8. MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT (1971)

(1971, Mar 2024 update)
Cannabis is listed here as a Class B drug, as it was in the original 1971 (it was reclassified as Class C for some years)
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/38/schedule/2 [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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9. MISUSE OF DRUGS (DESIGNATION)(England, Scotland, Wales) ORDER (2015)

This is only available as the original version. The main point of interest relates to what I’m assuming is a clinical exemption for Sativex (a cannabis preparation that is available on NHS prescription), given that it is an equal parts THC/ CBD preparation, and the licensing date tallies (see further reading)
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/704/schedule/1/paragraph/9/made [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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10. MISUSE OF DRUGS REGULATIONS (2001, November 2018 16A Update)

Legislation.gov.uk: Misuse of Drugs Regulations (2001, November 2018 Section 16A Update)
Differentiations are made in this legislation between proper and improper usage. It also states the illegality of smoking prescription cannabis:
“(3) A person shall not self-administer a cannabis-based product for medicinal use in humans by the smoking of the product (other than for research purposes in accordance with regulation 13)”
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/3998/regulation/16A [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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11. PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES ACT (2016)

(May 2016 section 2 update)

Section 2 defines by law what the Government of the time perceives as a psychoactive substance. Although this could fit the criteria for pretty much anything, in this context it means the banned elements of cannabis.

"2 Meaning of “psychoactive substance” etc
(1)In this Act “psychoactive substance” means any substance which—
(a)is capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it, and
(b)is not an exempted substance (see section 3).
(2)For the purposes of this Act a substance produces a psychoactive effect in a person if, by stimulating or depressing the person's central nervous system, it affects the person's mental functioning or emotional state; and references to a substance's psychoactive effects are to be read accordingly.
(3)For the purposes of this Act a person consumes a substance if the person causes or allows the substance, or fumes given off by the substance, to enter the person's body in any way."
(UK Government, 2016)

Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2016/2/section/2

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12. ROAD TRAFFIC ACT (Section 5A)(1988) 

(Mar 2018 most recent update)
Again, the last update was prior to the rescheduling of cannabis, but this does elaborate on proving legality of driving under the influence.
Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/5A [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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13. Further Reading

Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (2011). Sativex letter. 
Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7b1387ed915d3ed9061fa0/sativex-letter.pdf [Accessed 28 December 2024]

Crown Copyright. When a Mental Health Condition Becomes a Disability. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/when-mental-health-condition-becomes-disability [Accessed 28 December 2024]
Release: Controlled Drugs Explainer. Available at: https://www.release.org.uk/law/schedules#:~:text=There%20are%20five%20schedules.,as%20over%20the%20counter%20medicines [Accessed 28 December 2024]

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Page updated: 05 January 2025