Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on departmental responsibility for cannabis-based medicinal products.

The Home Office leads on drug legislation and the Department of Health and Social Care and its Arm’s Length Bodies oversee healthcare and medicine regulation. This regulatory framework applies to all drugs under Schedules 1-5 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, including cannabis-based products for medicinal use.

No changes are planned to the current responsibilities. The Government has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to review the impact of the 2018 change in the law, which enabled the widened use of cannabis-based products for medicines, and will consider the recommendations in the usual way.