A popular cannabis-based ingredient has officially been classified as medicine in the UK, after healthcare officials scrutinized claims speaking to its effectiveness. The Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced earlier this week the addition of cannabidiol, or CBD oil, to its list of medicines after reviewing several manufacturing companies’ “overt medicinal claims” that the product provides relief for patients.
Gerald Heddel, director of inspection and enforcement at the agency, told Sky News:
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.
CBD, unlike THC, is a non-psychoactive natural component of marijuana that contains various medical properties, making it an anticonvulsant, antipsychotic, anti-inflammatory, antiemetic, anti-oxidant, anti-depressant, and anti-tumoral. It can be used to treat a number of medical conditions including epilepsy, ALS, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease, and chronic pain. CBD can also be used reduce the intoxicating effects of THC, such as memory impairment and paranoia.
MHRA reversed its stance on CBD just a few month after sending cease and desist letters to CBD producers across the UK. The governmental agency released an assessment that stated:
The MHRA has now completed it’s review and has considered all information available to it relating to Cannabidiol (CBD) and having taken into account all the scientific advice and evidence, it has come to an opinion that products containing Cannabidiol will satisfy the second limb of the definition of a ‘medicinal product’ because it may be used by or administered to human beings either with a view to restoring, correcting or modifying physiological functions by exerting a pharmacological, immunological or metabolic action, or to making a medical diagnosis.
This is the first time a form of cannabis has been seen as medically beneficial to the UK’s government, which could mean a legitimate medical marijuana industry is in the country’s future.
In December, the U.S. reclassified CBD oil as a Schedule 1 Drug under federal law in an effort to track quantities of CBD and other marijuana extracts imported and exported to and from the U.S. separately from quantities of marijuana.