United Kingdom

London-based Beckley Waves — a psychedelics startup incubator focused on therapies, education, and software — has raised $3.3 million in seed funding.

Jersey Hemp, the only farm in the British Isles that is licensed to grow hemp to manufacture CBD products, has shut down operations after the UK government said it found THC in the company’s CBD exports and declared their products illegal.

The Scottish National Investment Bank is investing £2 million (about $2.4 million) into Scotland-based IndiNature Mill, a firm which specializes in hemp-based insulation products.

A spokesperson from the United Kingdom Prime Minister’s office clarified the administration does not intend to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to Class A drug in the country.

Conservative police commissioners in the United Kingdom want to reclassify cannabis from a Class B to a Class A drug, which would put the plant in the same category as heroin and cocaine.

The United Kingdom has blocked a cannabis legalization package in Bermuda from becoming law, possibly throwing the Caribbean island territory into a constitutional crisis.

Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, England has convened a commission to investigate decriminalizing cannabis throughout the U.K. despite opposition from some national officials.

UK-based Glass Pharms has announced plans to build the world’s first carbon-negative medical cannabis cultivation facility using artificial intelligence-influenced growing methods.

Medical cannabis legalization in the U.K. could be worth 1.2 billion pounds and create about 40,000 industry jobs.

The U.S.-based CBD and cannabis investment firm Thought Leaders has acquired mellow, the United Kingdom’s top CBD wellness marketplace, for $13.25 million.

The United Kingdom National Health Service and Brain Tumour Charity are partnering on research to determine whether cannabis-based medicine Sativex paired with chemotherapy medication temozolomide can treat glioblastoma.

The cannabis-focused venture capital firm Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies — which is backed by Casa Verde, the venture capital firm partially owned by Snoop Dogg — started trading today on the London Stock Exchange.

UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals — the manufacturer of Epidiolex, the first FDA-approved cannabis medication — was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2021 in the Innovation category.

GW Pharmaceuticals, creator of the first FDA-approved medication made from cannabis, is set to be purchased by Jazz Pharmaceuticals in a $7.2 billion cash-and-stock deal.

20 years after issuing its first medical cannabis cultivation permit, the United Kingdom has awarded a second such license to Jersey-based Northern Leaf.

North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Afron Jones has called for giving drug-dependent inmates cannabis to determine whether it might reduce overdose deaths and violence.

Starting next year — after the final transition period of Brexit — medical cannabis patients in the UK will no longer be able to source their medicine from The Netherlands or other EU countries.

The UK has approved trials to assess the safety — and eventually efficacy — of DMT as a potential treatment for depression.

Green Active, a UK-based CBD company, announced a donation program to help the family of an eight-year-old cannabis patient pay for his medicine as the NHS refuses to write a prescription providing it to the family for free.

The UK’s National Health Service has only issued three prescriptions for medical cannabis oil since it was legalized two years ago, according to medical cannabis advocacy group End Our Pain.

Billy Caldwell, who became the figurehead of medical cannabis policy changes in the UK, will receive his first bottle of cannabis-derived medicine two years after the necessary reforms took place.

Medical cannabis companies licensed in the United Kingdom are now eligible for listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The United States spent $1.49 billion on cannabis research between 2000 and 2018. Most of the funds were directed at understanding the potential harms of cannabis use.

United Kingdom Anti-Doping has announced it will shorten bans for athletes who fail drug tests for non-performance enhancing drugs, including cannabis.