The UK is the world’s biggest producer of medical cannabis, research suggested in March 2018.
Britain produced 95 tonnes of legal marijuana in 2016, making up 44.9 per cent of the world’s total, according to figures from the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board.
This is more than double the UK’s 42-tonne cannabis production in 2015, the data adds.
Of the marijuana produced, 2.1 tonnes were exported from the UK in 2016, making up 67.7 per cent of the global total, the figures show.
Despite this, medical cannabis licensed in other countries remains illegal in the UK even if deemed appropriate by a doctor.
Pro-legislation campaigners have described patients’ denied access to medical marijuana as ‘unethical’ and ‘a violation of the fundamental right to health’.
Steve Rolles, a senior policy analyst at drug-relation think tank Transform, said: ‘It is scandalous and untenable for the UK government to maintain that cannabis has no medical uses, at the same time as licensing the world’s biggest government-approved medical-cannabis production and export market.’