“The prohibition of the CBD hemp flower would threaten a rapidly developing sector”

Bolstered by recent European and French case law, the rise of CBD products in France has in a few years become a real social phenomenon: opening of dedicated shops throughout the country, entry of tobacconists into the market, enthusiasm of consumers from all walks of life. seduced by the soothing effects of cannabidiol on anxiety or sleep, job opportunities, appetite of a generation of farmers in search of meaning and stable income, strengthening of our country’s link with its peasant tradition and a culture thousand-year-old hemp.

For well-being, calm or against pain … The CBD surge is reaching France

Contrary to these encouraging prospects, the draft decree notified by the French government to the European Commission on July 20, providing for a ban on the production and marketing of CBD hemp flowers, plunges all players in the sector. in deep concern. This measure, far from being anecdotal, directly threatens the existence of a national economic and agricultural sector still under construction.

Professional organizations in the hemp products sector, the French Association of Cannabinoid Producers (AFPC), the Union of Hemp Professionals (SPC) and the Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD), as well as the citizens’ association NORML France, have no other choice but to denounce this text with one voice and alert public opinion to the heavy and irreversible consequences of its possible entry into force.

To justify this ban, the government invokes a ground of public order. He postulates that the police and the gendarmerie do not have the means and tools necessary to distinguish between cannabis, a narcotic, and CBD hemp flowers, which are now legal.

However, there are many tests, immediately available, and already used by some of our European neighbors, which allow this distinction. The budgetary cost of their deployment, which would be part of the effort to modernize the police, is insignificant in view of the benefits attached to the trade in well-being hemp flower:

• In terms of health first: remember that the WHO considers CBD to be a safe, non-addictive molecule, with no risk of abuse. Not only does this molecule have no psychotropic effect, but it is scientifically established that CBD hemp flowers are an effective means of combating addictions (nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, etc.) for which they constitute a proven substitute. These flowers are thus widely used by cannabis users who wish to avoid the psychotropic or addictive effects of THC in order to reduce or even stop their consumption. Far from being problematic, the use of CBD flowers represents a great opportunity as part of a policy to reduce the risks associated with the use of narcotics. Their prohibition would therefore run counter to the declared public health objectives. The hemp flower should not bear the brunt of a prohibition policy that has never been proven.
• On the security level then: the diversion of a portion of drug users accessible on a black market run by criminal networks towards the commercialization of CBD flowers available on a legal, secure and transparent market would have a significant impact on drug trafficking, and on drug users. associated violence.
• On the economic plan finally: with a volume estimated at two billion euros in turnover, 1,500 specialized stores opened across France, which contribute to the revitalization of city centers, nearly six thousand tobacconists who sell them, especially in the area rural, around twenty thousand direct and indirect jobs, the CBD sector is experiencing exponential growth, proof that it responds to a large social demand, from all backgrounds and all generations, for non-medicinal solutions.

It must be said bluntly: most retailers, for whom the sale of the CBD hemp flower represents 50 to 70% of their turnover will not survive its ban. The prohibition of flowers would also put producers in a situation of forced dependence on extractors and laboratories, the only owners of the expensive infrastructure necessary for these operations.

From producer to retailer, the entire French CBD industry would be weakened, to the benefit of large foreign groups. Cut off from the flower and the majority of its income, reduced to a simple extraction activity, the French CBD sector could not remain competitive.

From the start, inexplicably, France (the government?) Has been working to weaken the French industry in the face of its successive competitors. After supporting China and the United States by only authorizing synthetic CBD, it favored European producers by ostracizing the only French flower. Result: 90% of CBD products are imported.

With the draft decree of July 20, the state creates illegality instead of producing value. It consolidates foreign competition instead of taking advantage of the dynamism of national players. The delay taken today will hardly be made up for tomorrow.

Ubuesque, contrary to European law and our fundamental principles, exposed as such to the censorship of the Council of State, this text will also be inapplicable and will cause targeted and random closings, a considerable volume of litigation, generalized confusion.

We therefore urge the authorities to break the deadlock of the prohibitionist option by authorizing the production, marketing and use of the CBD hemp flower. It is not too late to make the choice of a secure development of the French CBD sector, profitable – in terms of safety, health and economics – for our entire national community.

Signatories:

– The French Association of Cannabinoid Producers (AFPC)

– The Union of Hemp Professionals (SPC)

– The Union of CBD Professionals (UPCBD)

– The NORML France citizens’ association