Tobacco shops, dedicated shops and even supermarkets… In recent years, the CBD market, this non-psychotropic cannabis molecule to which relaxing virtues are attributed, has exploded in France.
Oils, infusions, creams, the variations have multiplied with, at the head of the gondola, a smoking cannabis containing less than 0.3% of THC - the psychotropic molecule of cannabis - sold for its relaxing properties.
But there you have it, if this “light” or “well-being” cannabis has made entrepreneurs and consumers happy, and has been able to be sold in France thanks to unclear legislation and a standoff between the French and European authorities, the government has decided to cut short the consumption of CBD for smoking by banning the sale and consumption of CBD cannabis flowers and leaves by decree.
What does this decree say?
Concretely, this decree, published in the Official Journal on Friday, December 31, prohibits “the sale to consumers of flowers or raw leaves in all their forms, alone or in a mixture with other ingredients, their possession by consumers and their consumption. It will therefore no longer be possible to legally buy or consume cannabis that has not been transformed. Cannabis for smoking, as well as infusions, are therefore concerned. The flowers and leaves "can only be harvested, imported or used for the industrial production of hemp extracts", details the decree.
In addition, the sale of seedlings and the practice of cuttings are prohibited.
"Only active farmers within the meaning of the European and national regulations in force can cultivate hemp flowers and leaves", indicates the text.
In addition, products made from hemp "cannot be imported from countries outside the European Union or exported outside the European Union unless they are accompanied by documents attesting to their conformity".
Why such a decision ?
France persists in banning the marketing of cannabidiol and its flowers, which it assimilates to narcotics.
On May 25, despite the judgment rendered by the CJEU, Matignon specified that "the placing on the market of floral tops or raw leaves for smoking or herbal tea was prohibited, just like products incorporating raw hemp".
A restriction "justified by reasons of order and public health".
Because, the government justifies itself, without analysis of the seized herb, it is impossible to know if the consumer has narcotic cannabis, highly dosed in THC, or cannabis "well-being" dominated by the CBD molecule.
Read alsoCannabis: 5 minutes to understand the standoff between France and Europe around the CBD
What do the players in the sector say?
On the side of CBD professionals, the pill is struggling to pass. And for good reason, "raw hemp is equivalent to a market of more than a billion euros, against half less for processed products", explains Aurélien Delecroix, director of The Green Leaf Company, and president of the Professional hemp union. “The viability of many businesses depends on it,” he continues. In France, there are around 2,000 shops dedicated to CBD, with a little less than 3 employees per shop, so if you take almost all of their income away from them, the risk of bankruptcy and dismissal becomes enormous! "
All the more so since if these products were classified as “smoking plants”, as our Belgian and Luxembourg neighbors do, the taxation could reach 50%, and would represent a significant windfall for the State, indicates the entrepreneur.
"The State shoots itself in the foot and deprives itself of a non-repressive means of combating trafficking and consumption", judge Aurélien Delecroix, according to whom "the consumers of hemp flowers are mainly consumers of cannabis who find in its flowers a way to wean oneself.
"In addition, there already exist, in Switzerland in particular, tests intended for the police to differentiate, in less than two minutes, cannabis loaded with CBD from illegal cannabis.
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The icing on the cake, the ban on the sale of plants and the practice of cuttings "confirms the fact that France is confined to the last row in terms of production", according to Aurélien Delecroix.
“If our neighbors are the only ones able to obtain interesting genetic varieties, especially in terms of CBD extraction, then they will always be market leaders and the French sector will never take off.
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What interest in public health?
“You have to understand that while the CBD market is very lucrative, it is not particularly virtuous.
A THC-addicted smoker who starts smoking CBD will change his cannabis consumption, but will still die of lung cancer, ”explains Nicolas Authier, president of the ANSM's Commission on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Drugs.
That said, “we leave products (oils, creams, etc.) with self-therapeutic properties for sale, while at the same time saying that it is prohibited.
This decision is therefore above all a means of burying what has appeared in recent years as the beginning of the legalization of cannabis in France, to which the government, which does not even want a debate, seems firmly opposed ”, nuances the addictologist.
“What would be really interesting, given that these products very often touch on health issues (withdrawal, pain, sleep disorders, etc.) would be to put real regulations in place to ensure the quality of the products. sold as well as advice given, ”Judge Nicolas Authier.
