The brand
Cannabis Health is the UK's national title covering medical cannabis — journalism built on science, not speculation, alongside the Cannabis Health Symposium series bringing evidence-led education to clinicians, industry and patient advocates across Europe. A serious editorial brand in a sector where credibility is everything.
The role
In-house marketing across two stints: September 2021 to April 2023, building the title's marketing foundations — then brought back in August 2025. In a small team, being re-hired is the reference letter.
The constraint is the story
Cannabis is one of the most restricted marketing environments there is. Google and Meta advertising is largely closed to cannabis-related content — even for a science-led news publication. No paid shortcuts, no retargeting safety net. Growth has to be earned the harder way:
- SEO & content strategy — search as the primary acquisition channel, working alongside editorial so journalism and discoverability pull in the same direction
- Website & analytics — running the site itself, with GA4 measurement so editorial and commercial decisions are made on numbers, not hunches
- CRM management — owned audience infrastructure: the database and email as the channels no platform can take away
- Paid & partnerships — deployed carefully in the narrow spaces the restrictions allow
What it proves
That we can grow a national health media brand where the standard playbook is banned. When paid channels are closed, marketing has to be structural — search, owned audience, measurement — which is exactly the discipline Above Threshold sells.