After eight months of consultation, the government publishes a new decree in the Official Journal to update the law around CBD. In exchange for full legalization of the molecule – no more searches and police custody for traders – France strictly regulates its use. The executive chose to take it the hard way, emphasizing “The operational capacity of the internal security forces to fight against narcotics”.
On the negative side: it will now be impossible to buy CBD flowers, like Newsweed revealed it to you in May. This measure is included in article 1.II of the decree: “The flowers and the leaves […] may only be harvested, imported or used for the industrial production of hemp extracts. In particular, the sale to consumers of raw flowers or leaves in all their forms, alone or in a mixture with other ingredients, their possession by consumers and their consumption is prohibited. “
In a speech making the after-sales service of the measure, the MILDECA justifies this ban by a health reason, since the flowers are consumed almost exclusively in joints smoked with tobacco. And “Many carcinogenic elements come from the combustion of organic substances”, points out the anti-drugs office of the government.
But the MILDECA also puts forward “Reasons of public order, insofar as, in order to preserve the operational capacity of the internal security forces to fight against narcotics, they must be able to simply discriminate between products, in order to determine whether or not they fall within the scope of the penal policy against narcotics ”.
Flowers represent 50 to 70% of sales
But for many lawyers, this provision is inapplicable. Notably because there are quick and inexpensive tests to differentiate CBD and THC, as shown in this video from The Obs.
The flower ban is making the CBD world scream. Indeed, these products represent between 50 and 70% of sales in specialized stores. Traders therefore fear seeing their turnover melt like snow in the sun. To prevent it, the legal response is already ready. ” NOTWe will formulate an action for annulment before the administrative jurisdiction ” Lawyer Charles Morel, president of the Union of CBD Professionals, announced to us in June. The Professional Hemp Union is also planning a legal attack.
The flowers will therefore be prohibited for sale… but authorized for harvest. Which was not the case before. They can be used to “Industrial production of hemp extracts”. Translation: CBD can be extracted from flowers to make oil, cosmetics or isolate. This is a small victory for the farmers, who will be able to sell their plants legally. But above all, it is a great leap forward for the hemp extract industry, represented by the UIVEC union.
Positive point: the maximum THC level rises to 0.3%
Even if this decree is much criticized by the CBD industry, a provision will surely find favor in their eyes. Article 1.III provides: “The content of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol [le nom scientifique du THC] hemp extracts, as well as the products which incorporate them, is not more than 0.3% ”. Until then, the maximum rate was 0.2%.
And this change is not anecdotal. The THC and CBD levels being linked, the more we increase the rate of the first, the higher the second will be. So with 0.2% THC you could get around 6% CBD. With 0.3%, we go up to 9-10% CBD. This makes it possible to have a more highly dosed product, potentially useful for those who use it to calm their pain.
Precisely, concerning the care of pain, the MILDECA recalls that “Products containing CBD cannot, under penalty of criminal penalties, claim therapeutic claims”. That is, a label cannot promise to cure pain, or calm anxiety, for example. But this provision does not appear in the new decree.
