Hemp is Grown in the UK but the CBD is Destroyed! 

Forced to Import

Hemp is currently grown and harvested in the UK but outdated restrictions only allow seeds and stalks of the plant to be used for Industrial purposes (e.g. for building materials and fabrics),

CBD oil cannot be legally extracted from leaves and flowers in the UK. As a result, the CBD oil consumed in the UK must be predominantly sourced from overseas.

Missed Opportunity

Therefore, the industry is incurring unnecessary cost and the British farmers miss out on the considerable opportunities of harvesting CBD themselves.

From an environmental perspective, the waste of the flowers and leaves is particularly shocking— currently they must be disposed of, rather than used for oil and other CBD products.

It is widely reported that a hemp farm in Cambridgeshire, threw away £100,000 worth of CBD from a crop with a value of £20,000.

Volteface   have announced the launch of Pleasant Lands, a campaign to unlock the hemp opportunity for UK farmers and small businesses.

Their aim is to explain the ways in which the full legalisation of extraction of CBD from UK hemp plants would prevent this sort of waste and benefit both the environment and the economy.

We know that hemp is particularly good for the soil as it regenerates it with nutrients from the leaves to the extent that follow on crops will also benefit.

Recent YouGov  polling highlighted in this report on medical cannabis has shown that 75 per cent of respondents agreed that UK hemp farmers should be allowed to process the flowers and leaves of hemp crops in order to produce CBD oil.

Volteface, is championing the evidenced based knowledge for all stakeholders and regulators to promote often overlooked environmental and economic benefits and provide a legal pathway to reform and recommend a future licensing structure.

With current cultivation estimated at only 800 hectares annually, allowing farmers to harvest the whole crop would unleash the potential of this highly sustainable industry, driving up economic growth and jobs whilst supporting green recovery.

The Future

Farmers and consumers have lost out on producing CBD oil, even though it is not itself psychoactive or illegal and we believe this is down to the undeserved stigma driven by lack of knowledge and old outdated thinking.

Hopefully, as we come out of the pandemic, we can be optimistic that the government mantra of being “driven by data”, when making decisions, will continue until a collective light-bulb moment where the health, environment and economic benefits of hemp will be acknowledged.