Products containing cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound found in marijuana, will soon be re-classified as medicine in the United Kingdom.
The country’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced the upcoming change on Friday.
“We have come to the opinion that products containing cannabidiol (CBD) used for medical purposes are a medicine,” an MHRA spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
Like all other medicinal products sold in the United Kingdom, products containing CBD will need to have a product license before they can be legally sold or advertised, and must meet safety, quality and efficacy standards, according to the spokesperson.
The agency told Sky News the reclassification of CBD was considered after several companies had been marketing CBD products making “overt medicinal claims” about health benefits.
“The change really came about with us offering an opinion that CBD is, in fact, a medicine, and that opinion was based on the fact that we noted that people were making some quite stark claims about serious diseases that could be treated with CBD,” said Gerald Heddel, director of inspection and enforcement at MHRA. “It was clear that people are using this product with the understandable belief that it will actually help.”
Tags: cannabidiol, CBD, united kingdom