CBD does not represent a “risk to public health justifying a general and absolute ban”, the Council’s decision states.
The Council of State has decided. In a decision rendered Thursday, December 29, the institution cancels the decree of December 30, 2021, which had come to prohibit the sale of cannabis flowers and leaves with a THC level of less than 0.3%. A setback for the government, based on the analysis that “CBD has no psychotropic effect and does not cause addiction“, and that it therefore does not represent a “risk to public health justifying a general and absolute prohibition“.
A year ago, at the end of December 2021, the government had, via an interministerial decree, prohibited the sale of flowers or raw leaves of CBD, “regardless of the form taken in the finished product (herbal teas, oils, CBD cosmetics, etc.)“. A measure that was quickly suspended by the Council of State: at the end of January 2022, the latter, seized by players in the sector who were worried about the consequences of the decree on their activity, had determined that it “does not result from the instruction […] that hemp flowers and leaves with a THC content not greater than 0.30% would have a degree of harmfulness to health justifying a general and absolute ban on their sale to consumers and their consumption“.
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The decision that fell this Thursday was expected, going back to the merits of the case on the legality of the decree of December 2021. It confirms its position of January: the general ban is judged “disproportionatein the face of limited risk. First, the investigation carried out underlined that “CBD has decontracting and relaxing properties and anticonvulsant effects, but does not have a psychotropic effect and does not cause addiction, unlike THC“. They are therefore not narcotics.
Second, a blanket ban should be justified and proportionate to the risk posed by the product. However, for now,the harmfulness of other molecules present in cannabis flowers and leaves, in particular CBD, has not been established“, and the consumption of products containing a THC level of less than 0.3% “does not create public health risks” justifying a complete ban, writes the jurisdiction.
The security argument not retained
Finally, the security argument put forward by the executive did not convince the council. For the government, the resemblance between the leaves and flowers of cannabis “devoid of narcotic properties» and those «presenting“these illegal properties risk complicating the task for law enforcement and compromise, in fact, “the effectiveness of the anti-narcotics policy“. However, testsquick and inexpensive” make it possible to differentiate the products, by analyzing the level of THC present, argues the council, which therefore dismissed this warning from the authorities.
Disappointing for the government, this long-awaited decision is, conversely, a victory for professionals offering CBD flowers. It agrees with the analysis of the Court of Justice of the European Union: in November 2020, the latter had thus determined, in its Kanavape judgment – named after a CBD vaper – that “CBD does not appear to have any psychotropic effects or adverse effects on human health”. An announcement that had allowed many CBD shops to open in France.
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The actors also quickly welcomed the decision of the Council of State. The Union of Industrialists for the Valorization of Hemp Extracts (UIVEC) has estimated that a “a new phase of consultation should now begin with the stakeholders in the sector and the public authorities, in order to rewrite the decree of December 30, 2021 and provide for the supervision of the market for raw leaves and flowers“. For its part, the French Association of Cannabinoid Producers (AFPC)welcomes the decision of the Council, which will allow all players in the French CBD sector, which currently has more than 30,000 jobs, to develop their activities serenely“. The same is true for the Union of CBD Professionals and the Hemp Syndicate, which emphasize their “huge relief» and see in this ad a «setback» for the executive and «a possible new economic boom, the securing of certain investments and finally more benevolence on the part of financial institutions“.
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