DHSC FOI-1712285 response 20 July 2026

JBD request: 19 June 2026 · JBD filing reference: FoI_1C1d · Authority case reference: FOI-1712285

JBD request date: 19 June 2026
JBD internal filing reference: FoI_1C1d
Authority case reference: FOI-1712285

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DHSC assessment requests

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Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health and Social Care
39 Victoria Street
London SW1H 0EU

www.gov.uk/dhsc

Mr Peter Lindsay
By email to: pete.lindsay@justicebydesign.org.uk
20 July 2026

Dear Mr Lindsay,

Freedom of Information Request Reference FOI-1712285

Thank you for your request dated 19 June to the Department of Health and Social Care
(DHSC), a copy of which can be found in the accompanying annex.

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

DHSC holds information relevant to your request. However, to provide the information as it
is currently framed would exceed the appropriate cost limit set out in the FOIA.

Section 12(1) of the FOIA means public authorities are not obliged to comply with a
request for information if they estimate the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate
limit. The appropriate limit for DHSC is set at £600, which represents the cost of one
person spending 24 working hours determining whether we hold the information, and
then locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

Although we cannot answer your request at the moment, we may be able to answer a
refined request within the cost limit. You may wish to consider, for example, substantially
reducing the following.

• the time frame
• the number of questions and or
• the type of information or type of documents.

Please be aware that we cannot guarantee at this stage that a refined request would fall
within the FOIA cost limit, or that other exemptions will not apply.

We have additional information which we are providing to you on a discretionary basis.
This information is outside the scope of your request and is therefore not subject to
internal review.

DHSC would also like to draw your attention to paragraph 7.17 of the Home Office
Explanatory Memorandum to The Misuse of Drugs (Amendments) (Cannabis and Licence
Fees) (England, Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2018. A link to the document is
available at: The Misuse of Drugs (Amendments) (Cannabis and Licence Fees) (England,
Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2018 - Explanatory Memorandum.

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This states: 
  
"Cannabis-based products for medicinal use cannot be smoked 
  
Due to the harms associated with smoking, the ACMD [Advisory Council on the Misuse of 
Drugs] recommended ensuring that any prescription of cannabis-based products for 
medicinal use should not include smoking as a route of administration. There was also a 
concern that permitting smoking of cannabis-based products for medicinal use would 
make it significantly more difficult to enforce existing offences on the recreational use of 
cannabis. This instrument therefore continues to prohibit smoking of cannabis, by banning 
the administration of cannabis-based products for medicinal use in humans by smoking." 
  
Whilst we recognise that this does not directly address your request, in terms of what 
informed the statement attributed to DHSC colleagues in the Home Office submission of 
13 September 2019, the Explanatory Memorandum shows the legislator took advice from 
the ACMD - the main clinical and expert advisory body on matters relating to controlled 
drugs - and that the ban on smoking was based on two factors: the known harms of 
smoking and the enforcement difficulty in distinguishing prescribed from recreational 
cannabis. This is consistent with the information set out in the Home Office submission of 
13 September 2018 (Annex A of your request) 
 
If you are not satisfied with the handling of your request, you can request we undertake an 
internal review. If doing so, it would be helpful for you to be explicit which areas of the 
Freedom of Information response you consider dissatisfactory. Complaints to us should be 
sent to freedomofinformation@dhsc.gov.uk or to the address at the top of this letter and be 
submitted within 40 working days of the date of this letter. 
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communication. 
 
If you are not content with the outcome of your internal review, you may complain directly 
to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Generally, the ICO cannot make a 
decision unless you have already complained to us about our original response and 
received our response to your complaint and, if applicable, our internal review decision. 
You should raise your concerns with the ICO within six weeks of your last substantive 
contact with us. 
 
Guidance on contacting the ICO can be found at https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us and 
information about making a complaint can be found at https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Freedom of Information Team 
freedomofinformation@dhsc.gov.uk

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FoI_1C1d 19/06/2026 
FOI_1C1d – DHSC 
19 June 2026 
Freedom of Information Request – Refined Request Following FOI-1704324 
This request is made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 
This request follows the Department's response to FOI-1704324 (Annex B). 
It is intended to refine the scope of the earlier request in accordance with the advice 
provided under section 16 FOIA. 
Background 
Annex A is the Home Office ministerial submission entitled: 
"Cannabis: Options on Definition of Cannabis Based Medicinal Products" 
dated 13 September 2018. 
Annex A states: 
"DHSC colleagues assess the likelihood that specialist clinicians prescribing 
cannabis for the purposes of smoking to be extremely low" 
and further concludes that the circumstances in which cannabis could legitimately be 
prescribed for smoking would be very narrow. 
The present request is confined to the recorded basis of those specific assessments. 
Requested Information 
1. Basis of assessment
Please provide the recorded information that informed the statement reproduced in 
Annex A that: 
"DHSC colleagues assess the likelihood that specialist clinicians prescribing 
cannabis for the purposes of smoking to be extremely low." 
2. Basis of conclusion
Please provide the recorded information that informed the conclusion reproduced in 
Annex A that the circumstances in which cannabis could legitimately be prescribed 
for smoking would be very narrow. 
Annex A

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 FoI_1C1d 19/06/2026 
3. Source categories 
Please identify whether the assessments referred to in Questions 1 and 2 were 
informed by: 
• clinical advice; 
• clinician engagement; 
• expert advisory input; 
• ACMD engagement; 
• literature review; 
• policy analysis; 
• equality analysis; or 
• any other recorded source. 
 
4. Identification of source material 
Please provide the records identifying the source or sources relied upon in reaching 
the assessments referred to in Questions 1 and 2. 
If the assessments were not based upon recorded information, please confirm this. 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
Pete Lindsay 
Justice by Design