Home Office FOI2026/06253 response 9 June 2026

Authority case reference: FOI2026/06253

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Home Office patient assessment and review

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pete lindsay
pete.lindsay@justicebydesign.org.uk

9 June 2026

2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
www.gov.uk/home-office
FOIRequests@homeoffice.gov.uk

Dear Pete Lindsay
Freedom of Information Request: FOI2026/06253

Thank you for your email of 12 May 2026, which we have included as Annex A. Your
request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOIA).

We have carried out a thorough search of our systems, and we have established that the
Home Office does not hold the information which you have requested.

Given the subject matter of your request, the Department of Health and Social Care may
hold the information you are seeking. If you have not already done so, you may wish to
write to them. Contact details can be found on their website at Department of Health and
Social Care - GOV.UK.
If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review
of our handling of your request by submitting a complaint within two months
to foirequests@homeoffice.gov.uk, quoting reference FOI2026/06253. If you ask for an
internal review, it would be helpful if you could say why you are dissatisfied with the
response.
As part of any internal review the Department's handling of your information request would
be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. If you
were to remain dissatisfied after an internal review, you would have a right of complaint to
the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the FOIA.
A link to the Home Office Information Rights Privacy Notice can be found in the following
link. This explains how we process your personal
information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/information-rights-privacy-notice
Yours sincerely
Public Safety Group

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ANNEX A 
 
It is submitted as a new request, but directly follows from material disclosed by the  
Home Office in response to FOI2026/03841 (FOI1C1A), including Annex B titled:  
“Cannabis: Options on Definition of Cannabis Based Medicinal Products” (13  
September 2018)  
The disclosed material appears to:  
• identify a residual cohort of patients who may continue to require smoking as  
a route of administration;   
• recognise clinically conceivable circumstances in which smoking may occur;  
and   
• recommend that smoking nonetheless be prohibited through the framework  
implemented via Regulation 16A(3) of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.   
This request seeks recorded information clarifying the evidential and analytical basis  
for that recommendation.  
In response to FOI2026/03126, the Home Office stated:  
“The Public Sector Equality Duty is a duty imposed by the Equality Act 2010 on  
public authorities. It is not allocated between departments, but applies to each  
authority in exercising its functions. In the case of SI 2018/1055, this included the  
Home Office when the legislation was made.”   
This request therefore also seeks clarification of the recorded information evidencing  
how those responsibilities were considered and discharged in relation to that patient  
cohort and consequences identified in the briefing material referenced above.  
Requested information  
Please provide any recorded information held by the Home Office evidencing:  
(1) Identification and assessment of the residual cohort  
What evidence, analysis, behavioural insight, clinical information, stakeholder  
engagement, or other recorded material informed the identification and assessment  
of the patient cohort referenced in the above briefing material as potentially  
continuing to require smoking as a route of administration. 
 
This includes any recorded consideration of:  
• patients transitioning from illicit cannabis use to prescribed cannabis-based  
products for medicinal use (CBPMs);   
• expected behavioural compliance challenges;   
• expected patient responses to a total prohibition on smoking.   
(2) Consequence assessment relating to Regulation 16A(3)  
Any recorded consideration of the foreseeable consequences for that cohort arising  
from Regulation 16A(3), including:  
• loss of lawful status solely by reason of route of administration; and   
• resulting exposure to criminal liability under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971,  
including potentially in respect of legitimately dispensed prescription quantities  
held at the time.   
(3) Equality Act 2010 / Public Sector Equality Duty considerations  
Any recorded information evidencing how the Home Office discharged its  
responsibilities under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 in relation to:  
• the patient cohort identified in the above briefing material; and   
• the foreseeable consequences described above.