Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to limb A of the definition of an exempted product on page five of her Department's Drug Licensing Factsheet - Cannabis, CBD and other cannabinoids, what her Department's definition is of the term administration.

The Department has made no assessment of limits of detection in relation to testing for the presence of controlled cannabinoids in CBD products. The Home Office approach is one of caution, that is, that a CBD product is likely to be controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001 (‘the 2001 Regulations’) if it contains any controlled cannabinoids.

The term ‘administration’ in the exempt product definition is not defined by the 2001 Regulations. The Human Medicines Regulations 2012 provides the following as part of its definition:

““administer” means administer to a human being—

(a) orally, by injection, or by introduction into the body in any other way; or

(b) by external application (whether or not by direct application to the body)”

The interpretation of legislation is ultimately a matter for the courts to decide.