European Commisssion: CBD Is No Narcotic After All

BERLIN, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / January 2, 2021 / The European Commission has changed its preliminary assessment on CBD-Oil (Cannabidiol-Oil). They state the compound isn’t a narcotic. The change of view comes following a judgement in which the European Union Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that CBD-Oil can’t be viewed as a narcotic. Like every other legal product, CBD products should be able to move between member states. CBD “can be qualified as food,” the European Commission further stated in a letter released Wednesday. The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs rescheduled cannabis on the same day. Cyrus Badde, President of the European CBD Association CBD.limited and CEO of the CBD Onlineshop CBDkaufen.com was very relieved of the EC’s turnabout.

“Both the Decisions of the European Commission and of the UN to declassify CBD-Oil are very important for the whole hemp industry. Especially, since there is still a lot of repression in Europe about uses of CBD-Oil.”

MP’s letter

Before the decision, CBDkaufen.com had initiated a petition on change.org. It aimed against the threatened outlawing decision of the European Commission. The Onlineshop CBDkaufen.com sent a letter out to all Members of the German parliament on this issue. The German general commissioner of Drug Affairs, Daniela Ludwig, responded to it.

The Commissioner said in the letter: “…The substance CBD itself isn’t known to have any intoxicating effect. Pure CBD is thus not subject to the rules of narcotics law, as you noted. The substance only becomes relevant under narcotics law when the THC content exceeds 0.2%. If the food supervisory authority stills take action against the distribution of products with a lower THC content, you can have this reviewed by means of administrative-legal protection.” In the wake of this, the EU Commission changed its stand on CBD as a possible narcotic and cleared the path for the admission of CBD as a novel food.

In regards to that CBDKaufen told the DG Santé (general director Health) of the European Commission, that industrial hemp itself as well as it’s products like CBD-Oil or hemp extracts could not be declared as a novel food, since there is nothing novel in this food. This view has been accepted by the European High Court judgement of 2009 (T‑234/06), which stated the following.

Court judgement regarding hemp extracts:

• “It must also be noted that two scientific studies submitted by OHIM state that cannabis, also referred to as ‘hemp’, is used in the food sector in different forms (oils, herbal teas) and in different preparations (teas, pasta, bakery and biscuits, alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages, etc.). That is borne out by the documents submitted by the intervener stating that hemp is used in the production of certain foodstuffs and beverages.

• The toxicological analyses carried out on those goods show that they contain a very low concentration of THC, considerably lower than the abovementioned threshold of 0.2% and that they have no psychotropic effects. Lastly, contrary to the applicant’s arguments, it is apparent from Article 4 of Directive 88/388 that the use of flavourings which do not contain any element or substance in a toxicologically dangerous quantity is permitted.

• Those findings thus show, contrary to the applicant’s arguments, first, that the word ‘cannabis’ does not merely refer to drugs and to certain therapeutic substances and, secondly, that hemp is lawfully used in the production of foodstuffs and beverages.”

“Now that CBD is classified as a food, it is only logical for the European Commission to disregard the application of “novel” to foodstuffs like hemp extracts and CBD-oil and completely regard it as regular foodstuff,” said Cyrus Badde, CEO of the CBD-Oil Online Shop CBD-kaufen.com and president of the European Cannabinoids Association (cbd.limited).

“The Europe Wide ‘witch-hunt’ of CBD producing companies, should be abolished at once. In the past, many of those producers where under legal pressure because they labelled their hemp extracts as foodstuff.

Since there is nothing novel to this food, it should not be regulated more than any other foods, if it is within the legal realm. Food safety standards have always been in place and have never been argued about. But hemp extract derived from European industrial hemp is possibly the most scrutinised food of all:

Farmers have to check it’s THC levels all the time. It has to keep in the legal THC level boundaries to be legally harvested.

Declaring CBD, CBG and other cannabinoids as ‘novel’ seems merely like a market entry barrier for every organic farmer in Europe. Its sole aim is to keep those little players off the ‘big boys’ playing field’. Food Safety standards have been met by European producers of CBD-Oil long before CBD was retroactively declared as a Novel Food in the wake of 2019. But this circumstance hammered the whole – young – CBD industry.”

The consortium has novel food applications pending. They have been held up by the European Commission’s earlier “preliminary assessment” naming CBD a narcotic. With the reversal of that position, the consortium’s applications may now move ahead.

The EIHA (European International Hemp Association), informed their members in an email that the consortium will continue with toxicological and other tests to prove the safety of CBD.

Mr Badde from the CBD-Shop CBDkaufen.com stated: “I find that the decision of the EU Commission is groundbreaking for our industry. But yet I sincerely hope that the EU will follow our suggestions and reclassify all Hemp Extracts according to the EU High Court decision in 2009. That would mean, all hemp extracts and cannabinoids are to be treated as food, if not toxic. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the UN and the European Commission for saving thousands of jobs in the hemp industry.”

Chaos averted

The Commission’s preliminary finding this past summer held that non-medical CBD and other natural hemp extracts made from hemp flowers – generally present in hemp food, food supplements and cosmetics – should be considered narcotics in the EU. But the European high court’s latest decision that CBD isn’t a narcotic is binding on EU institutions including the Commission. Hemp stakeholders had feared chaos for the whole sector if the Commission hadn’t been moved to change its position.

Beyond its effect on the novel food approval process, the EC’s reversal on CBD sets the stage for clarification of national laws and regulations affecting CBD where necessary, broader acceptance of CBD-oil in the marketplace leading to potentially fast growth, and continued investment in the sector. CBD-Oil products have been readily available in Europe for years, but unclear rules have caused law enforcement problems for some shop owners and producers in many countries. Bold investors have long been in CBD-Oil in Europe, but more may now be inclined to do so with fundamental regulations in place.

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SOURCE: CBD-kaufen.com

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