The Health Minister has criticised the States Assembly for legalising medicinal cannabis “before doing the correct amount of background work” – which he said had left the island in a “very unsatisfactory place”.
Deputy Tom Binet told the States Assembly yesterday that medical prescribing “should be further controlled in law” and that “work is currently under way to define these controls”.
His comments come after a 2023 audit revealed that 6% of the island’s working population held a cannabis prescription, compared to just 0.05% in England.
The Health Minister recently confirmed that around 4,000 islanders received over 53,000 private prescriptions in 2024 alone.
And mental-health director Andy Weir previously raised concerns about prescribing practices for islanders with serious mental illness amid a “notable increase” in inpatient admissions for those prescribed large amounts of medicinal cannabis.
Deputy Binet yesterday said: “This Assembly has legalised cannabis before doing the correct amount of background work.”
When he was asked about islanders selling some of their prescribed cannabis, the Health Minister added: “I don’t mind saying I think we’re in a very unsatisfactory place at the moment.”
He explained that anyone who wanted medical cannabis could visit different prescribers and get a month’s supply from each.
“It’s a very unhealthy situation indeed,” said Deputy Binet, adding that work was under way to allow cannabis prescribers to access to islanders’ GP records in a bid to flag undisclosed medical issues, including serious mental illness, before treatment begins.
The Health Minister said that he hoped to see “very real progress over the next 12 months”.
The Scrutiny panel set up to review changes to a law which will regulate public health services last week called for the Environment Minister to set a clear timetable, before the current government’s term ends, for regulating clinic-based healthcare services that can prescribe medicinal cannabis.