Deputy urges caution over medical cannabis clubs

A Guernsey company is in talks with the States on the opening of a cannabis club

A Guernsey cannabis company says users of medicinal cannabis need a safe space to take the drug.

Paul Smith, the founder of House of Green, said the company was in early talks with the States of Guernsey on the idea of opening a cannabis club.

He said any club in Guernsey would be a place for people prescribed the drug to meet, and cannabis would not be sold on the premises.

Deputy Rob Prow, president of the Home Affairs Committee, said the proposal needed to be "considered extremely carefully".

'Impact on health'

Medicinal cannabis was legalised in Guernsey in 2020.

More than 5,000 medical cannabis licences have since been distributed, according to 2022 figures.

Deputy Prow said the "impact on health" needed to be considered.

"What is often forgotten in these discussions, which is really commercially-led, is the question of the impact on health and it mustn't be forgotten that cannabis is a Class B drug and it’s classified as that for very good reason," he said.

"The suggestion that taking your medication in some group setting, I’d really like to be convinced by Public Health of the viability of it and what advantages there could be - I can’t see any at the moment."

'Not being judged'

Mr Smith said there were situations when those prescribed medicinal cannabis needed a safe place to go.

"If you live with your parents and your spouse and young children, you might not like to be vaping at home with your medicinal cannabis."

He said "a whole stream of controls" would be in place.

Talks with the States were at a "very early stage", he added.

Greg de Hoedt, chairman of the UK Cannabis Social Club, which runs about 160 clubs in the UK, said the facilities helped people with debilitating conditions feel comfortable.

He said: "Medical cannabis social clubs give people the opportunity to go out and socialise again, integrate back into society, in a way that they are not being judged for their medicine because cannabis does have a stigma around it."