The UK Government is reportedly considering handing a huge boost to the CBD industry by reforming hemp harvesting rules.
At present it is legal to derive the valuable oil from stalks and seeds but the flowers and leaves of the hemp plant must be destroyed under pre-Brexit rules carried over from EU law.
But ministers could be planning to tear regulations following a report by drugs reform group Volteface, The Telegraph reports.
The Government is facing increasing calls from within the Conservative party to free up an industry already worth £300m in the UK and projected to grow rapidly.
Britain imports large quantities of CBD oil and raw material for production, despite the fact it could be produced cheaply and effectively domestically.
The leaves and flowers of the hemp plant are still controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act even though they possess no psychoactive properties.
Environment minister Victoria Prentis confirmed to the newspaper that her department will be ‘commissioning a project not he potential use of under-utilised, underdeveloped or novel crops, including hemp’.
She added: “We are also considering the role of hemp in the bioeconomy and the opportunities this presents for UK farmers.”
Supporters of a change in regulations within the Tory party include former leader Iain Duncan Smith and former Transport Minister, George Freeman, the Telegraph reports.
Mr Freeman told the newspaper: “We could have an industrial hemp industry that would be good for British farming and agriculture, we would not rely on imports so much to develop these products and that would be good for the balance of trade.”
