CBD in the UK (June 2019)

Consumer interest in CBD has risen rapidly and is growing fast. Several indicators suggest the current ‘hype’ around CBD is likely to endure and is not a passing fad. The best evidence now available confirms that pure CBD is not addictive, is well tolerated by the human body and presents no health risks from sustained use. 

The size of the UK CBD market is between 3-6 times larger than previous well quoted estimates (£300M per year vs £100M (Brightfield report) and 1.3 M users vs 250K users (CTA) depending on which measure you take; value or users. This is larger than the total UK Vitamin D (£145M) and Vitamin C market (£119M) combined.

The first major third-party testing exercise to be undertaken of CBD products in the UK was commissioned for this report. In total, 30 oil products available in the UK were selected to verify the range of quality of those CBD products being sold today, and to determine where the areas of concern might be. Those areas were defined as: health and safety; consumer rights; and criminal law. 

The results reveal a wide range in terms of quality, and some concerning poor practice in a minority of cases. The best products are very high quality and are good options for today’s consumers, but a larger group of products present issues in one area or another. The biggest issues related to accuracy of labelling; the presence of controlled substances and some contaminants; and in one example from a high street pharmacy, the complete absence of any cannabinoids. 

Read the full report from the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis here: https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/51b75a3b/files/uploaded/Report%20%7C%20CBD%20in%20the%20UK%20-%20Exec%20Summary.pdf