--- title: Marijuana: U.K. Says CBD Cannabis Counts as a Medicine description: The U.K. government's MHRA has ruled that products containing Cannabidiol (CBD) can be considered to be a medicine canonical: https://time.com/4526568/cbd-cannabis-medicine-marijuana-uk/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-11T15:33:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:16:09.668Z article:section: Health og:title: U.K. Regulator Says Some Cannabis Products Count as Medicine og:description: It's a big win for the campaign to legalize cannabis use og:url: https://time.com/4526568/cbd-cannabis-medicine-marijuana-uk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.K. Regulator Says Some Cannabis Products Count as Medicine twitter:description: It's a big win for the campaign to legalize cannabis use twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # U.K. Regulator Says Some Cannabis Products Count as Medicine by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Oct 11, 2016 3:33 PM UTC by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Oct 11, 2016 3:33 PM UTC A U.K. government regulator says certain cannabis products can be considered medicine, in a big win for the campaign to [legalize cannabis](http://healthland.time.com/2012/11/07/two-u-s-states-become-first-to-legalize-marijuana/) use. The decision from the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) applies to products containing [Cannabidiol](http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/04/a-new-marijuana-plant-without-the-high-it-could-be-good-medicine/) (CBD), a specially bred variety of cannabis that has extremely low levels of the hallucinogenic drug THC, meaning it does not cause a high but is thought to retain the same health benefits of other forms of cannabis. The MHRA review found that CBD has a “restoring, correcting or modifying” effect on “physiological functions” when administered to humans, the U.K.’s [_Independent_](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cannabis-legality-uk-government-finally-admits-marijuana-has-a-medicinal-effect-a7355941.html) reports. “We have come to the opinion that products containing cannabidiol (CBD) are a medicine,” said the MHRA, in a statement to TIME. “Products for therapeutic use must have a medicines’ licence before they can be legally sold, supplied or advertised in the UK. Products will have to meet safety, quality and effectiveness standards to protect public health.” The government’s review came about as a result of discussions between the MHRA and CBD vaporizer company MediPen, the _Independent_ reports. “Since our inception we’ve worked hard to obtain our goal of breaking down the negative connotations surrounding cannabis to lead to a reform in the law for medicinal use,” Jordan Owen, MediPen’s managing director, told the _Independent._ “Now this is finally becoming a reality.” Marijuana: U.K. Says CBD Cannabis Counts as a Medicine ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4526568/cbd-cannabis-medicine-marijuana-uk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4526568/cbd-cannabis-medicine-marijuana-uk/"},"headline":"U.K. Regulator Says Some Cannabis Products Count as Medicine","datePublished":"2016-10-11T15:33:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:16:09.668Z","description":"It's a big win for the campaign to legalize cannabis use","url":"https://time.com/4526568/cbd-cannabis-medicine-marijuana-uk/","keywords":["policy","cannabis"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/policy/","name":"policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4526568/cbd-cannabis-medicine-marijuana-uk/","name":"U.K. Regulator Says Some Cannabis Products Count as Medicine"}}]}] ```