A young man jailed last month for dealing multiple strains of medicinal cannabis is the latest example of a problem law enforcement across the Channel Islands says is quietly reshaping the drugs market.
20-year-old Callum Graham Renouf was sent to youth detention for over two years for supplying cannabis, including up to eight different strains of medicinal cannabis.
Renouf pleaded guilty to supplying herbal cannabis and cannabis resin between July 2024 and April 2025, as well as the possession of small quantities of MDMA and Diazepam.
Crown Advocate Jenny McVeigh, prosecuting, told the Royal Court in December that Renouf was arrested in relation to a domestic incident last July and during a search of his person and vehicle a total of 72.1g of cannabis, 0.3g of MDMA and 40 Diazepam tablets were found.
Officers also found two cannabis grinders, £548.52 in cash and “deal-bags”.
“A very serious aggravating factor”
Analysis of his phone found messages to more than 50 people since July 2024 which indicated he was dealing and he was buying bulk quantities of cannabis, including tubs of up to eight different strains of medical cannabis at one time.
Judge Catherine Fooks, sentencing, said Renouf was “a mid-ranking career/commercial supplier, selling at attractive prices” and that the court considered the selling-on of prescription cannabis was “a very serious aggravating factor”.
The sentencing starting point was set at five years’ youth detention, but he was offered credit for his lack of previous convictions and for entering guilty pleas early.
Judge Fooks accepted that Renouf had faced challenges as a child including disruption to his education which had negatively impacted his mental health.
She also took his nascent fatherhood into account: “You are described in the references as a loving young man who loves his family, especially his young child. It is clear there is a different side to you from the drug-dealer who appears today for sentence”.
Judge Fooks handed down a sentence of two years and two months’ youth detention to run from when Renouf was remanded into custody on 10 September 2025.
A class of “user-dealers”?
The onward selling of medicinal cannabis into the black market is an issue which politicians and officials in Guernsey and Jersey are grappling with.
Illegal imports of cannabis have all but collapsed in recent years, coinciding with a ramping up of patients accessing the drug legally through cannabis clinics and prescriptions.
Bailiwick Law Enforcement have recognised that large-scale imports of cannabis reduced during the covid years with smaller quantities coming in, and the rise of medical cannabis use has led to a secondary black market.
A recent front page story from Express’ sister publication the Jersey Evening Post delved into the issue, featuring comments from an anonymous senior law enforcement office that a lack of regulation is creating a class of “user-dealers”.
Market forces have also created a situation where medical cannabis is cheaper to purchase than illicit products, both as a prescription and via the black market – the inverse of the UK.