What are the European cannabidiol laws? An analysis of the situation in the European Community, between old legacies, market pressures and large openings.
By now, the great boom in the cannabis market is known, a plant that has been “rediscovered” in recent years and used for various uses.
Thanks to the new European laws, you can now buy your CBD flower on JustBob and enjoy the many benefits from CBD products for your mind and body.
Cannabis components
However, not all the active principles of the plant are considered equal before the laws in force in the countries. The relative novelty of the matter, the difference between types of products, uses and active ingredients, and, above all, a general legislative fragmentation has meant that no little confusion was created.
The questions of those who use cannabis were not long in coming.
Is CBD legal everywhere? Can I bring CBD abroad?
To understand the rules in force in Europe and the UK, it is good to clarify some key concepts.
Marijuana is one of the names of the psychoactive substance obtained from the inflorescences of cannabis plants, adequately dried.
The active ingredient that makes marijuana a remarkable substance is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). It is typically associated with recreational use, legal in some countries, illegal in many others.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the active ingredients of the cannabis plant. It has no narcotic effects, has proven relaxing, anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties. Its excellent safety profile has led to its use being permitted in many countries.
Cannabidiol (CBD) is currently used in the preparation of many different products. The cannabis plants used to make these products (or the dried plants on the market) must have an extremely low or no THC percentage.
For therapeutic cannabis are those medicines based on cannabis — as the CBD or THC — which were developed and approved in an increasingly vast number of countries worldwide.
The concentrations of the various active ingredients (the main ones being cannabidiol CBD and Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol THC) contained in cannabis-based drugs are calculated with extreme rigour.
In this case, cannabis falls within therapeutic paths implemented for various purposes in complete agreement with the medical staff.
Is CBD legal in Europe?
Products with CBD are sold freely in most of Europe, out of Slovakia, a country where CBD is still deemed illegal.
It is also possible to move within the European Union bringing CBD products. The recommendation, as always, is to buy products that are certified and have the exact percentage of active ingredients present on the package.
In the UK, the law establishes that no authorization is required to carry and use the types of hemp (indicated in a special list) with a THC content of less than 0.2%.
Furthermore, the percentage of the active ingredient THC in plants, in the case of control and analysis, can be considered within a sort of “safety threshold”, which remains below 0.2% of the active ingredient.
Marijuana in the European Community
Cannabis containing high levels of THC that makes it astonishing has far fewer licences in Europe.
It is the so-called “recreational use”, not to be confused with the medical one.
Currently, most EU Member States criminalize the possession of marijuana for personal use but, at the same time, do not apply the detention regime.
Even in countries where there would be detention for those found in possession of marijuana, internal law enforcement guidelines encourage them not to apply it.
There is no clear push towards a “community legalization” of recreational marijuana on the horizon, but there have been exceptions for years.
It is the case in the Netherlands, where coffee shops have been a reality since the 1970s. These are points of sale authorized by the local authorities, where you can buy and consume marijuana.
In many European countries, consumer groups have formed “cannabis social clubs”. No national government in Europe accepts this system now, except for some regions of Spain where social clubs have been a reality for years now, carefully monitored by the authorities.
The European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, the community authority that also deals with the legal status of marijuana in Europe, has published a guide in which it is possible to know, country by country, the legal status of cannabis and its active ingredients.
The European cannabis market represents 35% of the world total. The hectares of agricultural land cultivated with hemp in Europe are more than 39,000, and the countries where these crops are most present are France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Romania.
It is a considerable advance in the productive dimensions of the sector; think that in 2011 alone, the hectares cultivated with hemp in Europe were just over 4,000.
In Italy, the home country of some of the best CBD distributors and producers, the agricultural lands cultivated with hemp are more and more and follow the European trend.
