JERSEY is powerless to intervene against UK doctors prescribing medicinal cannabis to Islanders, a senior health official has told politicians – after a death involving the drug was investigated.
Health policy director Ruth Johnson said there was a lack of oversight on the medicinal cannabis trade as most doctors prescribing medicinal cannabis to Islanders do not have a Jersey-based “responsible officer”.
“That means that Jersey cannot intervene in their prescribing practice,” she told the Health and Social Security Scrutiny Panel.
During the hearing, managing director Andy Weir also revealed he had recently completed an investigation into “another” death in which cannabis “was involved”.
He did not confirm what had caused the death, but said his investigation had recommended closer working between GPs, mental-health services and cannabis clinics.
“At the moment people are sliding through some of those cracks,” added Mr Weir.
The hearing exposed further gaps in Jersey’s medicinal cannabis oversight, as Mrs Johnson explained that prescribing doctors are not legally required to check patients’ medical records.
“Most doctors do already do that, but we will be bringing forward that as a legal requirement,” she said.
Medicinal cannabis prescribers also cannot directly access records held by a patient’s GP, and concerns have previously been raised that patients with a history of serious mental illness were not disclosing this.
Mr Weir said: “You can’t just rely on what someone says to you. Actually, if you’re going to safely prescribe, it’s advisable to check.”
Mrs Johnson said a new legal requirement to check those records was being prepared, alongside a system to make it easier for GPs to share information relevant to a prescription.
Doctors would also have to keep records of adverse effects experienced by Jersey patients.
“We don’t currently have insight and intelligence on that,” said Mrs Johnson.
She noted that mental-health services monitor hospital admissions involving cannabis use and can report suspected adverse reactions.
Senior clinicians have previously highlighted a “notable increase” in mental-health admissions among people prescribed high quantities of the drug.
Under current Jersey law, anyone authorised to prescribe medicines could potentially prescribe medicinal cannabis – including a dentist or vet – although Mrs Johnson stressed that this did not happen in practice.
She said the doctors currently prescribing it often work from the UK and see Jersey patients remotely.
Proposed new controls would require those doctors to have a Jersey-based responsible officer. Rules on face-to-face appointments and how long a patient could receive prescriptions without one are also under consideration.
A 2024 audit into medicinal cannabis in Jersey revealed that 6% of the Island’s working population held a prescription for the drug, compared to just 0.05% in England.
Mr Weir said the drug and alcohol service had received anecdotal accounts of prescribed cannabis being sold on and of buyers experiencing serious difficulties, but Mrs Johnson said officials could not put a figure on how much was being diverted.
It comes after the JEP revealed last month that new prescribing controls were expected by the end of 2026. Mrs Johnson said this week that patients would be consulted in October and the initial controls were now expected in the first quarter of 2027.
A possible second phase would establish a register of prescribers, with standards for their practice and the power to remove those who failed to comply, but Mrs Johnson said that would require more complex legislation.
The number of cannabis-based medicinal products dispensed in Jersey rose from 53,477 in 2024 to 72,065 in 2025 – an increase of around 35%. That number has more than tripled since 2022, when the total stood at 23,639.
