{"id":29831,"date":"2024-05-22T09:00:18","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabishealthnews.co.uk\/?p=29831"},"modified":"2024-05-21T14:50:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T13:50:30","slug":"one-in-five-uk-police-officers-dont-know-medical-cannabis-is-legal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabishealthnews.co.uk\/2024\/05\/22\/one-in-five-uk-police-officers-dont-know-medical-cannabis-is-legal\/","title":{"rendered":"One in five UK police officers don\u2019t know medical cannabis is legal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Despite medical cannabis being legalised on prescription in the UK in November 2018, the survey highlights a lack of awareness of this among police officers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study<\/a> among a nationally representative sample of 200 officers, <\/span>between 24 October -1 November 2022.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While most participants (71.5%) knew that cannabis is legal on prescription, 21% thought it was not legal and 7.5% said they weren’t sure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Almost a quarter (23.5%) said they had never received any formal training on this topic, while just under half (42\/5%) believed the training they received was \u2018inadequate\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The vast majority (88.5%) of police officers surveyed said they believed they would benefit from more training on cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) including how to identify recipients of legally prescribed cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n Police officers were also asked about the action they had taken when encountering patients who claimed to be prescribed cannabis.<\/span><\/p>\n Overall 40% said they had found themselves in this situation. <\/span>The most common responses were to ask for evidence from the person themselves (42.5%), checking the legitimacy of their claim with a healthcare professional (13.8%), or asking for advice from a colleague (10%).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Six (7.5%) responses detailed the participant being detained or arrested, whilst two (2.5%) confiscated the individual\u2019s cannabis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Over the last five years a significant number of patients have reported negative experiences with police as a result of their cannabis prescription, including being arrested and having medication confiscated unnecessarily.<\/span><\/p>\n In November of 2023, <\/span>the Guardian reported<\/span><\/a> that it had received 24 individual stories from people who had experienced negative police interactions related to the use of their prescribed medication.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nPolice responses to medical cannabis patients\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n