Impact on healthcare services due to increase in medicinal cannabis use

​​​​​​​Request 699266625

I would like to request information regarding the increase in medicinal cannabis use and its impact on healthcare services — an issue raised in the latest Health Board papers. 

A copy of the relevant Health Board papers can be found at the following link:


HCJ Advisory Board March 2025.pdf

The papers state: "There is a notable increase in the use of medicinal cannabis, particularly in private prescriptions, which impacts the quality of care in other departments, especially mental health. The number of people on medicinal cannabis in the UK is around 0.04%, but on the island, it is significantly higher, estimated to be 150 to 200 times greater. This issue is being addressed by various committees, including those focused on the misuse of drugs."

A

Please could you explain how the increase in prescribing is this affecting other health services, particularly in mental health?

B

Please can you provide an correspondence (including emails and meeting minutes) between:

* The Health Minister and senior civil servants within HCJ that contain the following search terms: “medicinal cannabis,” “private prescriptions,” “misuse of drugs,” and “mental health impact.”

* The Chief Pharmacist and senior leadership in HCJ regarding medicinal cannabis prescribing and its effects on health services that contain the following search terms: “medicinal cannabis,” “private prescriptions,” “misuse of drugs,” and “mental health impact.” 

C

Any statistics on the number of medicinal cannabis prescriptions issued in Jersey over the past five years, broken down by year.

D

Any policies, briefing papers, or discussions regarding changes to prescribing guidelines or patient pathways for medicinal cannabis.

Thank you

Clarification requested 

Please could you provide some clarification and parameters for your request?

As it currently stands, the request for correspondence is extensive and asks to use search terms which include high frequency words / phrases for correspondence intrinsic to the roles of the persons in scope of the request. This will result in significant email returns to review for relevant information which could not be accomplished within the timeframes allowed for Freedom of Information requests. Furthermore, several exemptions would likely apply in respect of emails relating to:

• ‘medicinal cannabis’: exemptions would apply to any information on personal licences / prescriptions, commercial licences / controlled drug returns, and law enforcement / Ministerial Decisions​

• ‘private prescriptions’: this would not pull results exclusive to medicinal cannabis, and the same exemptions would apply in respect of personal prescriptions and any commercial information

• ​​ ‘misuse of drugs’: would return any references or quotation of the applicable Law, and the Misuse of Drugs Advisory Council, and similar exemptions would apply to personal and commercial data, and law enforcement.

Please could you specify the particular point(s) of interest for this request?

This would enable the Department to focus searches to best achieve a response within timeframes which addresses your query.

Additionally, please could you provide dates for the period of interest in respect of Questions B and D?

Clarification received 

B) Please could I request corresp​ondence between 1 January 2022 and 1 April 2025 that specifically discusses the impact of medicinal cannabis prescribing on mental health services or service delivery more generally. Please focus only on emails or meeting minutes where these terms are used in the context of service pressures, prescribing concerns, or clinical governance. I am not requesting information about individual prescriptions, licence applications, or commercial operations. Relevant search terms may include: “medicinal cannabis” + “mental health impact” + “service pressures” + “patient safety”

D) Please could I request any documents, internal discussions or papers from 1 January 2022 and 1 April 2025 that relate to: any proposed or actual changes to prescribing guidelines, development of clinical pathways for patients accessing medicinal cannabis, briefings prepared for Ministers or senior officials on the governance of medicinal cannabis prescribing. Again, I am not seeking documents relating to individual patient cases, commercial entities, or personal licence details. Relevant search terms may include: “medicinal cannabis” + “prescribing guidelines/policy”. 

Response

A

The Director of Mental Health, Adult Social Care and Community Services addressed questions on cannabis use and the impact upon mental health services in the most recent Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel Quarterly Public Hearing with the Minister for Health and Social Services, held on 20 May 2025. The transcript is available on the States Assembly website at the following link:

Jersey-HSS-Minister-for-Health-and-Social-Services-20-05-2025-(1)-(003).pdf

B

Correspondence has been reviewed, and information in scope of this request has been prepared for disclosure. Duplicate emails have been removed and correspondence has been redacted in consideration of Freedom of Information legislation.

Redactions have been colour coded for ease of reference, as follows:

Yellow Personal Information of individuals, including Government of Jersey employees below Tier 2 – Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Blue Information supplied in confidence – Article 26 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Green Commercial Interests – Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Freedom of Information response 699266625 - Attachment 1.pdf​

Health and Care Jersey (formerly Health and Community Services (HCS)) Advisory Board papers are available on www.gov.je​. As the September 2024 HCS Advisory Board papers email attachment is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

C

Information held by Health and Care Jersey on cannabis prescriptions issued has been provided in a number of previous Freedom of Information responses. Published responses can be reviewed on the Freedom of Information requests and responses Disclosure Log on www.gov.je​, which includes a search tool to assist in identifying relevant responses:

Freedom of Information r​equests and responses​

As information to address the request is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

D

Briefing papers and States Assembly discussions surrounding prescribing guidelines, policy and regulatory frameworks can be reviewed on the States Assembly website, which includes a search tool to assist in identifying relevant responses and filtering by timeframe:

States Assembly | Home​

Where information is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Correspondence has also been reviewed, and information in scope of this request has been prepared for disclosure. Duplicate emails have been removed and correspondence has been redacted in consideration of Freedom of Information legislation to protect the privacy of individuals, protect the commercial interests of the Government of Jersey and / or others from prejudicial impact, ensure that processes around the development of policies are not prejudiced, and to reduce the impact on the security of the island. Redactions have been colour coded for ease of reference, as follows:

Yellow Personal Information of individuals, including Government of Jersey employees below Tier 2 and Advisory Council Members – Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Green Commercial Interests – Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

Purple Formulation and Development of Policies – Article 35 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011

In addition to the above, the following exemptions have been applied:

• ​​Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 [Information accessible to applicant by other means]
• ​Article 42 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 [Law Enforcement]

Where attachments (or their content) are entirely exempt, including working documents and drafts, these have been removed. Links to published materials are provided.

Freedom of Information response 699266625 - Attachment 2.pdf​

A Change of Direction A Substance Use Strategy for Jersey 2023 to 2033.pdf​

Articles applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

Article 26 - Information supplied in confidence

Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it was obtained by the scheduled public authority from another person (including another public authority); and

(b) the disclosure of the information to the public by the scheduled public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Article 35 - Formulation and development of policies

Information is qualified exempt information if it relates to the formulation or development of any proposed policy by a public authority.

Article 42 - Law enforcement

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a) the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

Public Interest Test

Articles 33, 35 and 42 are qualified exemptions and, as such, Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) has conducted a public interest test as required by law.

HCJ has assessed whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in supplying the information is outweighed by the prejudice that would likely result by doing so. It is recognised that there is a public interest in transparency. However, having considered the public interest, HCJ has concluded that the public interest in disclosing this information is outweighed by the potential prejudice that would likely result. ​