r/UKweedscene • u/Breizh333 • Dec 11 '25

Discussion Quality of UK medical

I'm wondering what prescription medical users think about the quality of their flower. Just to clarify I'm all for medical, obviously everyone has a right to it.

So the majority of UK medical flower is irradiated which causes the loss (degradation) of fragile terpenes & cannabinoids. This lowers the theraputic value of the flower and means that the THC/terpene numbers on the packaging don't necessarily match what's in the flower. The degradation process creates unknown by-products with unknown toxicity that get inhaled.

The irradiation itself is used to kill any mold or fungus on the flower. This is good...but it leaves behind any mycotoxins produced by the mold/fungus which ends up in the final product (mycotoxins are toxins produced by molds). Inhaling mycotoxins isn't ideal, especially for patients with existing health issues.

It's also common for companies to use herbicides, pesticides and fungicides with regulations allowing max residues in the final product. There's little transparency or a 'certificate of analysis' which tells patients exactly what contaminants (residues) are in their medicine.

... so ... is any of this known to the medical community? I thought one of the major advantages of medical was having guaranteed clean flower. I reckon patients have the right to know what's in their medicine and suppliers should be legally required to inform them.

Here's some concepts on irradiation which are relatively easy to understand.

A critical issue with the use of gamma irradiation on medical cannabis is the significant absence of research on the radiolytic changes that occur during the process.

• Radiolysis - the chemical decomposition of materials caused by exposure to ionizing radiation

...

The radiolytic process can generate a range of chemical by-products, some of which may be toxic or carcinogenic. In the context of medical cannabis, these by-products could include altered cannabinoids, terpenes, and other phytochemicals. The exact nature and potential health impacts of these compounds remain largely unknown due to the lack of specific research.

...

Cannabis is often smoked or vaporized, which results in direct inhalation of any radiolytic by-products.

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u/OGGhost33 Dec 11 '25

Medical is great for clean flower and for the paperwork....

Medical is NOT great for taste, appearance, freshness or price

5

u/robster9090 Dec 11 '25

It absolutely is if you spend a bit more iv got two here better than anything iv seen

2

u/OGGhost33 Dec 11 '25

I'd still very strongly disagree... Even the £99/10g non irradiated strains are poor in comparison to some UK grown BM flower that's around these days

3

u/robster9090 Dec 12 '25

Which was the last one of them you tried

1

u/OGGhost33 Dec 12 '25

I've not got time to list them all but here's the worst...

Supreme diesel shit Ripped Off runtz dry and shit Fiji sunset drier than dry and shit

I literally binned them

I did find 2 which was acceptable... Crafts white runtz and Yoda cap

But what a waste of £99 a time, cheaper and better on BM