Medical cannabis: How one British group is empowering patients to enter the billion-dollar industry

A British medical cannabis company based in the Isle of Man is selling up to 25% of its equity to patients in the UK, giving them influence in the production and availability of a drug they struggle to get it reliably and affordably.

Grow Lab Organics last year became the first company to obtain a license to grow and export cannabis from the Isle of Man, which has its own government but is part of a customs union in the UK.

The firm is looking for investors among people in the UK who have medical conditions such as multiple sclerosis and are finding it difficult to legally source high-quality cannabis that can relieve their symptoms.

“Having patients engaged with the company means they make fewer mistakes, produce the products they want, and have a more dynamic feedback loop,” said Alex Fray, GLO’s chief executive officer. “It’s potentially very powerful and will allow us to quickly capture market share.”

GLO has partnered with Carly Barton, the first person to obtain a prescription for cannabis in the UK who has set up a certification scheme for users, called Cancard.

Barton says many patients find legal access to the drug prohibitively expensive and the quality of the products offered unreliable. “We’re going to introduce a lot of benefits for people who have invested to dramatically reduce their costs,” she said.

Although there are many companies in the UK with import licenses for medical cannabis, only a handful are licensed to grow the plant and use its banned psychoactive compound – THC – or legalized compounds known as cannabinoids. Most of these companies are limited to R&D use.

GLO overcame commercial production hurdles by securing a grow and export license with the Isle of Man. Now it hopes that with patient acceptance it can shake up the way the UK market works.

Cancard provides an identity card to registered patients who consume cannabis for medical reasons recognized by the police. This allows them to avoid arrest for growing cannabis themselves or buying it from street vendors.

The group’s 75,000 members were given priority access to GLO stock ahead of a public fundraiser next week. GLO has already raised £4m from investors, some of them celebrities and wealthy patients who use cannabis to treat disease.

A YouGov survey estimated last October that there were 1.8 million people in the UK obtaining cannabis products illicitly to alleviate chronic physical and mental health conditions. The NHS only prescribes the drug in very limited circumstances, so most people who gain access legally do so at private clinics.

The drug was legalized for medical use in the UK in 2018 for a number of conditions, including fibromyalgia, after parents of children with severe epilepsy touted its benefits.

Fray says GLO will provide patients, many of whom he hopes will become shareholders, with transparency about how the plant is grown and what strains are used. They will also have a voice through Barton, who sits on the company’s board and regularly polls Cancard members.

“It’s important to patients how the plant is grown,” Fray said.

He didn’t expect Britain to ease the use of cannabis, as Canada and some US states have done. But he said that even in its current restricted form, the drug market still hasn’t had a “breakthrough moment.”

“The supply chain has been very fragile. But I see the transition accelerating,” she said.