Northern Leaf, a licensed medical cannabis manufacturer on Jersey in the Channel Islands, is among Europe's larger growers and is trying to turn former tomato greenhouses into an export business, Wired reported¹.

The company's 100,000-square-foot facility in St Lawrence uses automated irrigation, environmental monitoring and air purification to meet medical-use rules, according to Wired¹. The magazine said the company supplies about 90 percent of Jersey's cannabis production and is allowed to grow only for export, not for local customers¹.

CEO Tan told Wired the firm exported 8.4 million pounds ($11.3 million) of medical marijuana in 2025 to markets including the United Kingdom and Germany¹. He compared that with Jersey Royal potatoes, which he said were a 40 million-pound industry in 2025, and argued cannabis could exceed that on a fraction of the land¹.

Jersey is a self-governing British Crown Dependency that legalized medical cannabis in 2019¹. Wired said five private clinics operate there and that latest figures it cited put about 6 percent of the island's roughly 100,000 residents on cannabis prescriptions, versus estimates of 0.4 percent in Germany and 0.1 percent in the United Kingdom¹. Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham has said he wants Jersey to be a centre of excellence for medical cannabis, Wired reported, citing prior remarks¹.

Tan, 50, joined as CEO in 2024 after a failed IPO left Northern Leaf valued at 3.7 million pounds despite as much as 30 million pounds spent on the greenhouse, Wired said¹. He told the magazine capacity rose from 25 percent to 75 percent over two years¹.

Sarah Clover, a barrister who works on cannabis licensing in Jersey, told Wired that UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency inspections give buyers a quality signal, while a small local team can issue permits quickly¹. Jersey law currently allows only bulk raw cannabis exports, not finished packaged product, and Northern Leaf is waiting on possible legal change, Wired said¹.

Neighbors have objected to expansions and odor, Wired reported¹. Jersey's health minister has said cannabis is a contributory factor in 22 percent of admissions to the island's acute mental health ward¹. Jersey Police told Wired that illegal resale of prescribed cannabis by so-called user-dealers undermines the legal framework¹. Wired said cannabis-related offenses fell from 216 in 2016 to 12 as of July 2026¹.

A 2024 vote to decriminalize recreational cannabis failed by one vote, and a later attempt was withdrawn, Wired said; another vote is expected in coming months¹. Separately, Gary Tucker of Bailiwick Botanicals sells THC-infused foods by keeping THC within 3 percent of CBD weight under Jersey's CBD rules, he told Wired¹. After a February 2024 customs raid, stock was later returned and sales continued as of June 2026, Wired reported¹.

Jersey's government said in a statement to Wired that abuse of CBD limits to get around other jurisdictions' laws is a concern and that work is underway on whether exemptions need amendment¹. Recreational possession still carries jail terms of up to five years, and supply up to 14 years, Wired said¹. The magazine noted the United Kingdom withheld Royal Assent from a Bermuda recreational-legalization bill in 2022¹.

Tan has asked the island for industrial energy rates and has talked of genetics and tissue-culture work; product that fails quality or THC tests is incinerated under law, Wired reported¹.

Sources

1. WiredWelcome to Weed Island2:00 AM

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