Police forces across the UK have been issued new guidance on how to handle interactions with medical cannabis patients, following concerns that outdated advice was leading to unnecessary confrontations between officers and lawfully prescribed patients.
The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) has approved guidance prepared by the Association of Police Controlled Drug Liaison Officers (APCDLO) after extensive consultation with healthcare partners, government agencies and the private sector. The document, seen by leafie, marks a significant shift in approach, instructing officers to treat medicinal cannabis users as “patients first, suspects second”.
The new guidance comes more than seven years after cannabis-based products for medicinal use (CBPMs) were moved from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations in November 2018, making them legal to possess with a valid prescription.
Richard List, a retired Detective Chief Superintendent and the guidance’s lead author, said the APCDLO became concerned in 2024 about the police service’s attitude towards medicinal cannabis. “The then draft guidance issued by the NPCC was both outdated and incorrect,” List told leafie. “There had been very limited consultation with healthcare or other partners who are critical players in this emerging space.”
The new guidance provides practical steps for frontline officers encountering patients with medical cannabis. Officers are advised to ask for the original packaging, check the dispensing label, or request to see a letter from the prescriber or a copy of the prescription – though patients are not legally required to carry these documents. Crucially, the guidance states that further police action should only follow if officers have “justifiable grounds for believing that the individual is not a patient who has lawfully been prescribed medicinal cannabis”, adding that “it should be assumed that people in possession of medicinal cannabis are patients until proven otherwise.”
The document also addresses controversial areas, including Cancard – plastic cards indicating the holder has a condition treatable with cannabis, but not proof of a prescription. The guidance clarifies that patients with valid prescriptions “have no need for a Cancard, which charges an annual fee”.
List, who now serves as Controlled Drugs Liaison Officer for Thames Valley Police and sits on the Care Quality Commission’s national Controlled Drugs Group, led the preparation of the guidance over several years. For much of his career, he led Thames Valley Police’s Intelligence and Specialist Operations Command, which included responsibility for tackling organised crime and drug-related offences.
The guidance emphasises that medical cannabis patients are “very likely to be suffering from chronic pain and/or other serious ailments” and that CBPMs are only prescribed “when other medicines and treatments have not been effective”.
While the NPCC has now approved the new guidance, List acknowledges it will “undoubtedly require further versions” as the field develops. “It is only recently that I have started to properly engage with private producers, suppliers and the wider cannabis community,” he said. “There is still much to learn.”
The document is now being disseminated throughout police forces across England, Scotland and Wales. A copy is available to the public here.
