The union of CBD professionals contacted the Council of State to question the validity of saliva tests, the last version of which dates back to 2016. That year, the government generalized road saliva screening tests and lowered them to very low levels, a few nanograms (1ng/mL for cannabis), the detection thresholds for different drugs via an order.
“We believe that the detection thresholds were established arbitrarily and are not based on any scientific reference,” explains Antonin Blaise, elected to the board of directors of the Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD), to La Nouvelle République.
Since 2016, CBD products have arrived on the market which can contain up to 0.3% THC. A consumer of a CBD product, in flowers for example, can therefore be positive for THC several hours after consuming without being under the effect of THC, present in minute quantities in CBD flowers but sufficient to produce a positive test.
A Swiss study, published in the journal Forensic Sciences Research, also revealed that CBD-dominant cannabis, legal in Switzerland up to 1% THC, has no impact on the ability to drive.
“These products have no psychotropic effect and do not create any particular risk for road safety,” estimates the UPCBD.
The UPCBD therefore decided to challenge the conditions under which the decree was issued, since no scientific opinion, although obligatory, was given before the publication of the decree. The Union also contests the effectiveness of these screening tests which we saw, in the case of Senator Guerriau, that they gave different results depending on the tests used. The senator from Loire-Atlantique was in fact positive for all drugs in the urine test, negative for everything in the blood test and positive for ecstasy in the hair test.
The UPCBD therefore requests the cancellation of the decree, or at least its modification so that consumers of legal products which do not create a risk for road safety are no longer penalized.
The Council of State will examine this appeal on Wednesday November 29 at 2 p.m., with its decision expected in the following weeks.
