January 2026 saw one of the biggest changes to the UK medical cannabis sector in years, when the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) issued the first official guidance for UK police interacting with legal cannabis-carrying patients. Just eight years after legalisation. The new guidance does not change the law, but it provides clarification for 43 police forces across England and Wales in how to deal with medical cannabis patients. But what exactly does it say, and how might things change for patients that need to carry their medicine in public?
Well, hopefully, this will dramatically reduce instances of police unlawfully seizing medical cannabis from – or even arresting – legitimate patients. To be clear, the majority of police already understood that medical cannabis is legal. But, as recently as 2024, one in five said they did not know, and 70% said they thought they needed more education and guidance on the issue. This article will break down the new guidance, and what it could mean for UK cannabis patients.
New Protocol for Interactions with Patients in Public
Interestingly, the new documentation says that ‘What should I do if I encounter a patient who states they are legally in possession of medicinal cannabis?’ is a “very common question” from police officers to senior staff. Therefore, this new guidance sets out advice for officers in clear terms.
This advice is split up into seven steps for officers to follow, which can be summarised as:
- Ask to see the original medical packaging
- Check the dispensing label for a clinic and name of the patient
- The patient should have a copy of their prescription – but this is not a legal requirement
- The patient may have other documents pertaining to their prescription
- The person should be given the chance to show ID to validate 2 3 or 4
- If none of these are applicable, officers should contact the cannabis clinic that the patient said provided the medication
- Only after all these steps, if the officer is still suspicious that the cannabis is not medically prescribed, should further police action take place
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One telling piece of advice from the document says that police should assume medical cannabis patients are legitimate until they have justifiable grounds to believe otherwise. This could prevent situations in which people are detained or even arrested, and then subsequently proven to be prescribed patients.
Unlicensed vs Unlawful – What’s the Difference?
One piece of terminology that has caused confusion around this issue for police, patients and media, is the term unlicensed. If police officers do their own research into cannabis medications, they may find this term come up.
Currently, more than 99.98% percent of medical cannabis prescribed in the UK is from private clinics. These are licensed by the Care Quality Commission and only employ qualified clinicians. However, medical cannabis is not widely licensed by the NHS medicines regulator the National Institute for Healthcare Excellence (NICE). Only two cannabis-derived medications – Sativex and Epidyolex – are licensed for the NHS.
One could, without full understanding, confuse unlicensed with unlawful and therefore assume that a patient’s medicine is illegal. This is not the case. Medical cannabis may not be licensed by the NHS, but it is perfectly legal for a private clinic with a standard healthcare license to prescribe it. The new guidance explicitly clarifies this point for police officers, who may see the term unlicensed when dealing with legal medical cannabis patients.
There is an alternative for people interested in the therapeutic properties of the cannabis plant, but to whom this whole policing issue sounds off-putting. CBD is a fully legal cannabinoid, that is available on the high street or online but also through private prescription. It has many medicinal properties that are currently being researched. However, finding the best CBD can be complicated – so patients are reccomended to use comparison and ratings sites to ensure they get a reputable product.
Changes May Be Coming for Cannabis Cards
The new police guidance also had something to say about cannabis cards. For a while these cards were one of the suggested ways for cannabis patients to identify themselves, with third-party companies like Cancard stepping in to provide the service. However, being third-party, the cards did not contain any information about current prescriptions – only that someone had a verified medical condition that qualified for medical cannabis treatment.
Initially, several senior police officers backed the idea. However, it proved controversial after increasing numbers of people who were self-medicating with illegal black market cannabis started paying for the cards, and the situation became confused.
The UK medical cannabis business, and not it seems police, are increasingly looking to move over to integrated cards that are supplied by clinics. These include the patient’s details as well as a QR code that authorities can scan to get instant access to their prescription information.
The guidance also repeated that smoking cannabis joints or rollups remains illegal. If a person is found by police doing so, no medical prescription will change that they have broken the law. Prescribed cannabis is only to be used as directed by clinicians, which means medical vaping, oils or lozenges.
