Cannabis Industry to Jumpstart Post-Covid Economic Growth in the UK
While British economy at large is still recovering in the aftermath of Covid-19 pandemic, the nascent CBD-wellness market and the medical cannabis industry are growing at an incredible pace. Thanks to the recent easing of regulations in this sector, it is poised to become the most robust legal cannabis market in Europe, attract serious investors, and possibly kickstart the country’s economic growth.
Impressive Growth Numbers
Although medicinal use of cannabis was only legalized in 2018 and CBD products are only coming into vogue, these two industries are already worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Savills, one of the world’s leading real estate companies, estimated the value of the CBD market in the UK at £300 million ($415 million). They also predict that it could grow to an astonishing £1 billion ($1.38 billion) by 2025. Analysts at Prohibition Partners estimate the same rise in value for the medical cannabis market, but they think it can reach the one-billion mark sooner—by 2024.
Since the industry—which still carries a stigma after decades of prohibition—was embraced by the London Stock Exchange, major players from across the pond have come to the European market and spurred a boom in private investing, IPOs, and crowdfunding for cannabis startups.
New Talents Attracted and Innovations Boosted
Besides money pouring into the sector and revitalizing the economy at large, major figures of the business world increasingly accept CEO positions at budding cannabis enterprises.
Thus, Arjun Rajyagor who has successfully run such companies as Goldman Sachs and BCG, will be chief operating officer of Sana Life Sciences. This startup wants to revolutionise the medical marijuana market in the country by producing such traditional forms of medicine as sprays, oils, and pills.
The willingness of top managers of such caliber to be a part of the formerly stigmatized marijuana world is a clear sign that the period of growing pains for medical cannabis is almost over. This is also good news for patients who will have a wider range of products at their disposal rather than dried flowers to be smoked.
The easing of regulations and the maturation of the UK market in general have also attracted many high-tech startups. Examples include Kanabo, an Israeli based producer of Vape Pod. Their device can very accurately titrate cannabis-based drugs which will both improve patients’ experience and make physicians less reluctant to prescribe them.
There’s still a lot that the authorities in Great Britain can do about deregulating certain sectors of this new industry, such as production of CBD products and the cultivation of hemp. But it’s important for the authorities to embrace the idea of reform because it could give a much needed boost to the economy decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It will also strengthen the position of the UK as the largest and fastest growing cannabis market in Europe.
