Ben Stevens
Ben is the editor of Business of Cannabis. Since 2021, he has researched, written, and published the vast majority of the outlet’s content, delivering agenda-setting journalism on regulation, business strategy, and policy across Europe.
Ben Stevens · page 4
- UK & Europe
Portugal’s Regulator Defends Cannabis Crackdown as Export Permit Delays Fall
Portugal’s medicines regulator has defended a year of tightened oversight and extended licensing delays throughout the country’s medical cannabis sector, telling operators that export certificates are now issued within 12 days and that the enforcement which unsettled the market stemmed from record-keeping and traceability failures rather than problems with the product itself.
- CBD Market
FSA Backs Britain’s First CBD Food Authorisations as Brexit Deal Threatens to Override Them
Britain is on course to become the first country in the world to formally authorise cannabidiol (CBD) as a novel food, as the Food Standards Agency (FSA) recommends three applications for ministerial approval in a move that could bring an estimated 3,000 products into legal compliance.
- M&A Activity
Curaleaf & Aurora’s Takeover Battle: Votes, Valuations and Vitriol
Curaleaf Holdings’s takeover bid for its Canadian rival Aurora Cannabis has evolved into a public spat between the two cannabis giants over whose financial projections are honest, who would actually control the proposed new entity, and whether the current bid can even close on its own terms.
- Clinical Research
The Company That Wants to Make the Endocannabinoid System as Measurable as Blood Sugar
Dr Stefan Broselid, Founder and Scientific Lead of ECS Restore, has filed a patent application for a non-cannabinoid formulation designed to treat dysfunction in the endocannabinoid system (ECS), moving his research from scientific hypothesis towards a meaningful commercial proposition.
- International Regulation
Australia’s Medical Cannabis Reforms to Target ‘Closed Loop’ Prescribing
Australia’s ongoing efforts to restrict its medical cannabis market, now the largest outside North America, are now taking aim at the special access scheme (SAS) framework on which the country’s hundreds of thousands of annual prescriptions are based.
- Industry Trends
What’s in Store for the Global Cannabis Industry in 2026? Mid-Year Update
This article was updated on September 02, 2026 In December 2025, we asked our in-house team of experts how they expected to see the industry evolve over the coming year.
- US & Canada
DEA Makes Its Final Case for Cannabis Rescheduling as Full Hearing Transcripts Published
As Chief Administrative Law Judge Derek Julius weighs his recommendation on moving cannabis to Schedule III, the DEA’s own closing brief attacks nearly every witness who opposed it — bar one scientist inside its own ranks.
- Medical Cannabis
Majority of UK Medical Cannabis Flower Now at 25% THC or Above, New Data Shows
Earlier this month, we published new data from two separate Freedom of Information (FOI) requests providing the most complete and up-to-date picture yet of the UK’s medical cannabis market.
- M&A Activity
Aurora Buys UK Pharmacy and Import Licence for £2.1m, Securing ‘Direct Route’ to Patients
As Aurora faces down an unsolicited takeover bid from one of the world’s largest cannabis companies, it has continued to expand its reach in what it sees as the markets of the near future.
- M&A Activity
Aurora Accuses Curaleaf of ‘Pressuring Shareholders’ as it Launches Official Takeover Bid
Curaleaf Holdings has pushed ahead with its unexpected and unsolicited acquisition campaign of Aurora Cannabis and has now submitted an official bid for its Canadian rival.
- Patient Access
Germany’s Medical Cannabis Insurance Reform Descends Into Chaos as Regulators Turn on Each Other
Last month, the German government passed a controversial cost-saving law that saw tens of thousands of patients denied access medical cannabis to flower reimbursed through statutory health insurance (GKV).
- Interviews
Ireland’s Dunbar Pharma Launches First Plant-Derived Dronabinol in UK Through IPS Pharma
Irish pharmaceutical cannabis manufacturer Dunbar Pharmaceuticals has today launched the first plant-derived dronabinol active ingredient into the UK market.
