The government wants to expand the cultivation and industrial and commercial use of hemp but wants to ban the sale to consumers of raw flowers or leaves, especially as smoking products, according to a draft decree published on Wednesday.
This draft decree has been notified to the European Commission and the final decree should be published at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. It revises a text of 1990 and follows a judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU ) in November 2020.
Read also: The meteoric rise of CBD shops
European justice then rejected the ban on CBD in France, emphasizing the harmlessness of this molecule, and that it cannot therefore be considered as a narcotic or a drug. She also pointed out that the free movement of goods within the European Union applied to this product. "
The objective
" of the draft decree "
is both to allow the development of new sectors in France, to protect consumers and to maintain the capacity of the internal security forces to fight against drug trafficking
".
The text "
provides that the authorization of cultivation, import, export and industrial and commercial use of hemp is extended, under certain conditions, to all parts of the hemp plant
".
The hemp plant must have a THC content that is not more than 0.2%.
CBD professionals reassembled
On the other hand, specifies the draft decree, "
flowers and leaves cannot be harvested, imported or used except for the industrial production of hemp extracts
". “
The result in particular is that the sale to consumers of raw flowers or leaves in all their forms, alone or in a mixture with other ingredients, in particular as smoking products, herbal teas or potpourris, their possession by consumers and their consumption is prohibited
”.
The government justifies this restriction "
on grounds of public order
".
"
To preserve the operational capacity of the internal security forces to fight against narcotics, they must be able to simply discriminate the products, in order to determine whether or not they fall under the penal policy of fight against narcotics
", indicates the project. of order.
To read also: "We observe a windfall effect": why the shops dedicated to CBD are multiplying across France
In a press release, the Union of CBD professionals denounces "
the desire to suffocate the sector by the French authorities
". "
The State shows its indifference to the well-being and health condition of countless users and threatens the activity of several thousand businesses, including in rural areas,
" criticizes the Union of CBD professionals.