Cannabis licence application numbers (FOI)

Request

A

Please advise how many licence applications have been made to the Minister for Health and Social Services pursuant to Articles 3 and 10 of the Misuse of Drugs (General Provisions) (Jersey) Order 2009 for the cultivation and or production and or possession and or supply of cannabis, broken down by year? 

B

How many of these licence applications have been approved?  Please provide further details as to:

• what the licence application was for
  
• who the application was made by 
• the nature of the licence granted
  
• the conditions of the approval (if any)
  
• the date of the licence;
  
• the term or duration of the licence
  
• the identity of the licence holder
  
• if the licence remains in force.
  

• what the licence application was for
  
• who the application was made by
  
• why the application was declined (if given)
  
• the date on which the application was declined.

Response

A

Applications per year, including those for renewal of a licence:

2021: 6

2022: 7

2023: 7

B

Details of the number of licences granted have previously been provided in response to Freedom of Information requests (published on www.gov.je), and in the Economy Department’s Export Strategy (published on the States Assembly website in July 2023):

Export Strategy 2023-2026.pdf (gov.je)

Medicinal cannabis licence figures 2022 (FOI)

Hemp and cannabis cultivation licences 2020 (FOI)

As this information is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

The Ministerial Decision to approve or decline an application to cultivate cannabis, and the reason(s) for the determination therein contained, is exempt from disclosure under Article 42 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

Details of applicants and / or licence holders are exempt from disclosure under Article 25 (Personal Information), and Article 33 (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011. Specific details of applications and / or licences are similarly exempt under Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011, as this information is commercially sensitive.

As such, information requested at questions 2.1 and 2.2 cannot be provided.

Articles applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3) In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Article 42 - Law enforcement

Information is qualified exempt information if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice –

(a) the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(b) the apprehension or prosecution of offenders, whether in respect of offences committed in Jersey or elsewhere;

(c) the administration of justice, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(d) the assessment or collection of a tax or duty or of an imposition of a similar nature;

(e) the operation of immigration controls, whether in Jersey or elsewhere;

(f) the maintenance of security and good order in prisons or in other institutions where persons are lawfully detained;

(g) the proper supervision or regulation of financial services; or

(h) the exercise, by the Jersey Financial Services Commission, of any function imposed on it

by any enactment.

Public Interest Test

Articles 33 and 42 are qualified exemptions and, as such, Health and Community Services (HCS) has conducted a prejudice test as required by law. 

HCS has assessed whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in supplying the information is outweighed by the prejudice that would likely result by doing so. It is recognised that there is a public interest in transparency. However, having considered the public interest, HCS has concluded that the public interest in disclosing this information is outweighed by the potential prejudice that would likely result.