Legalising Cannabis could mean large revenue for the UK
The Cannabis Invest UK Conference 2018 was held at the Mayfair Hotel last month and it brought together plenty of investors willing to discuss the huge opportunities to invest in the possible legalisation of cannabis in the UK.
Medical marijuana has been gaining popularity as more and more people are treating illness with the drug, with many travelling overseas due to the UK’s regulations. One of the most famous cases that proved cannabis’ medicinal values is that of the 6-year old Alfie Dingley from Warwickshire, who has a rare form of Epilepsy (PCDH19). The boy suffers up to 30 seizures a day, and in the span of just one year had 42 hospital visits and 3,000 seizures. The parents were denied a prescription for medical marijuana despite his il.
Credit: PA
Faced with this dilemma, the parents traveled to the Netherlands to take a cannabis-based medication and saw significant improvement. Alfie went 24 straight days without a seizure, and doctors estimate that he would only have 20 seizures this year. The Home Office did acknowledge the fact that people with chronic pain and illness are “looking to alleviate their pain”. The Home Office says it is considering allowing a medical cannabis trial for him, a petition has also raised 370,000 signatures to be submitted to government. Adding more momentum to the movement are huge-profile figures like Sir Richard Branson, Russel Brand, and Sting.
The estimated value of the cannabis market in the UK according to CLEAR (Cannabis Law Reform) is between 2.9 Billion and 8.8 Billion pounds, with an average of 5.9 Billion pounds. That’s enough to get wealthy investors to support pro-cannabis lobbyists and reform groups.
Private investors and equity firms are also showing plenty of interest from all over the world. At the top of the list is Privateer Holdings, a US-based private equity company, which has raised more than 100 million pounds to invest in a variety of cannabis products.
Another company ready to cash in on this is Colombia Care, a multi-million dollar cannabis cultivation business. It is run by Metropolitan policeman Mike Abbott. In 2016 he said, “I’d love to bring some lessons we have learned here to Britain”. Also on the list of investors is Paul Birch, founder of Volteface, a drug policy think tank located in London.
So, now that the public opinion is slowly changing in favor of legalizing cannabis it seems that there will be a bright future for the economy of the UK.
