The Never-Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense

Three encounters. Same carousel.

A family weaponising concern.
An out of court settlement - proof that hard line tactics don't work.
Two Met officers who did not know cannabis can be legally prescribed.

Different scenes. Same problem.

Patients, the public and even police are still trapped in confusion, stigma and outdated thinking around legal medical cannabis in the UK.

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The Never-Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense is written and produced...

Sian goes from Princess Anne’s legendary “Not bloody likely!” to the equally useful compliance principle of “don’t be so bloody stupid”.

This episode’s carousel takes in British politics, public frustration, activist groups that forget advocacy still needs accountability, and the refreshingly honest request for help from someone who simply wants a decent contract, proper governance, regulatory safety and no unexpected incarceration.

Sharp, irritated, practical and occasionally spiky, this episode asks what legitimacy really looks like when politics, campaigns and businesses all start demanding trust.

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In this episode of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Siân takes aim at one of the cannabis sector’s rarest commodities: credibility. 

From self-appointed experts and strange event behaviour to rumours, activist claims and the convenient rewriting of other people’s positions, this episode asks why an industry fighting for legitimacy still gives so much room to nonsense. 

Blunt, funny and occasionally spiky, it also looks at the questions some organisations seem very keen to avoid: where is the accountability, what does success actually look like, and what happens when the problem you wer...

At every cannabis event, there’s that moment. The polite chat is over. The regulation grumbles have been shared. The patient access nodding is complete.

And then comes the simple question:

“So… what do you actually do?”

In this episode of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Sian explores the curious rise of the vaguely involved. The consultants who can’t quite explain their consultancy. The advocates who advocate… something. The legacy-to-legitimacy transitions that haven’t quite landed. And the growing credibility gap between those doing the work and those enjo...

This episode we examine the curious phenomenon of the self appointed guardian of transparency. The man with the invisible clipboard. The archaeologist of twenty year old emails. The tiny hammer enthusiast tapping away at industry morale.

Why must every informal phone call be minuted?
Since when did off the record conversations require stenographers?
And at what point does “tenacious” quietly become “vexatious”?

We explore the theatrical outrage over missing minutes, the resurrection of pre-iPhone era anecdotes as modern day scandal, and the peculiar need some have to appear relevant by excavating history...

Another turn of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense.

This week, we attend a quiet professional disappearance.

A once self-appointed guardian of the CBD sector has vanished. Website suspended. Data incomplete. Members exposed. And regulators still asking questions.

In this episode, Sian Phillips dissects what happens when fear becomes a business model, when exclusivity replaces cohesion, and when an entire regulatory strategy rests on a single brittle dossier. The UK’s Novel Foods framework does not recognise conference badges or whispered influence. It recognises the data holder. And when that entity disappears, th...

What starts as a harmless Sunday morning thought turns into a six-hour legislative excavation with industrial equipment.

In this episode of The Never-Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Sian explores ADHD through the only accurate metaphor available: seven squirrels, a rabbit hole, and a JCB.

Between online violin lessons and cups of tea delivered by a very patient partner, a simple question about which primary legislation touches hemp and cannabis in the UK spirals into an 81-page reference document. Because why use a spade when you can perform full surgical excavation on Parliament?

This...

The UK cannabis industry loves to talk about collaboration, community, and growth. What it is less keen on discussing is what actually happens behind the scenes.

In this episode of The Never-Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Sian takes a sharp look at industry events, networking culture, and the unspoken power dynamics that shape who gets access, who gets heard, and who gets quietly harvested for value.

From vulture-style lead hunting to reputation laundering and the quiet cost of enforced optimism, this episode explores why so many people leave events feeling informed by nothing except their...

The cannabis industry wants the moon on a stick.

It wants regulation fixed, access opened, politicians educated, crises handled and reputations protected. It wants trade bodies to do the work, take the risk, absorb the flak and keep showing up.

What it does not always want to do is pay for it.

In this episode, Sian Phillips delivers a blunt, long-overdue rant about entitlement, complacency and the dangerous fantasy that representation happens by magic. From unpaid meetings and self-funded lobbying trips to companies promising to join and then vanishing at invoice...

... That Honey Is Better Than Poop 

Tabloids are not confused about medical cannabis.
They're committed to misrepresenting it.

In this episode of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Sian explains why she has stopped responding to ragebait headlines, why correction often fuels the outrage machine, and why the industry needs stronger boundaries.

This is about changing where we respond, trusting patients to tell their own stories, and refusing to burn out for someone else’s clickbait business model.

Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip paper.
 Don't le...

Why are international cannabis companies actively joining the Cannabis Trades Association, while many UK businesses are still standing on the sidelines?

In this episode of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Sian Phillips is joined by her colleague Marika Graham-Woods, who takes a moment to vent about a growing and worrying pattern. Overseas companies clearly see the value of representation, advocacy, and being in the room where decisions are made. Meanwhile, parts of the UK medical cannabis sector appear dangerously comfortable, assuming the ground beneath them is solid.

Together, they explore whether complacency, fatigue...

In this episode of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, we take a blunt look at the Daily Fail and its ongoing attempt to convince the British public that prescribed cannabis is somehow a moral crisis. It is not. It is medication, and adults are using it to manage pain, PTSD, neurological conditions, and everyday health concerns while journalists cling to nostalgia and panic.
 We drag outdated narratives, revisit uncomfortable bits of the Fail’s history (including its very enthusiastic black shirts era), and ask why medical autonomy terrifies the tabloids more than cocaine, jazz, or Meghan Mar...

Sian tackles one of the UK’s most eyebrow-raising contradictions: the fact that it’s still completely illegal to grow your own cannabis, even for medical use. From the labyrinth of hemp licensing to the theatrical paranoia of the Home Office, this episode takes a dry, sarcastic stroll through Britain’s outdated cannabis laws.

Sian unpacks exactly what it would take to “do it properly” and, unsurprisingly, it involves six-figure budgets, industrial-level security, a stack of compliance documents capable of bruising a small mammal, and the sort of bureaucratic endurance usually reserved for Olympic competition.

If you’ve...

In this episode of the Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, I attempt to have a sensible conversation about a CBPM (Cannabis based prescription medicine) for children with intractable epilepsy. What I get instead is a LinkedIn performance piece from a man who lists actor, scriptwriter and part time scientist on his profile while simultaneously claiming he can detect my breath through the internet.

What follows is a wry tour through rage baiting, ego collapses, questionable American freedom under the mango Mussolini, and the bizarre theatre of men who pick online fights with women they have never...

In this episode of The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense, Sian tackles one of the most baffling recurring questions in the cannabis sector: “What does a trade association actually do?”

With her trademark mix of observational comedy, blunt honesty, and industry insight, Sian explains why trade associations are not optional extras but essential safeguards in a chaotic and fast shifting regulatory landscape.

She breaks down:
 • Why companies cannot navigate cannabis regulation alone
 • Why collective credibility matters more than slogans
 • How the CTA provides real intelligence rather than industry gossip
 • Why th...

Not everything leafy is laced.

Join Sian on The Never Ending Carousel of Cannabis Nonsense as she unpacks twenty of pop culture’s most persistent cannabis myths - from Shakespeare’s so-called smoke sessions to Popeye’s suspicious spinach.

It’s a sharp-witted, eye-rolling ride through the music, television, film, and folklore that people have insisted were “secretly about weed.”

From The Magic Roundabout to The Wizard of Oz, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to Pass the Dutchie, this two-part episode asks one simple question:
Why can’t we just let cr...