German / English / Italian / French / Spanish /

What happened?

#cbdlegal #cbdisfood
The European Commission decided in July 2020 to stop applications for "novel foods" to include CBD in foods because it is considering labelling the ingredient as a "drug/narcotic".

Parts of the useful hemp plant, although the plant has a long tradition in Europe as a foodstuff, have been added to the list of novel foods in 2019. 

https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/novel_food/catalogue/search/public/?event=home&seqfce=940&ascii=C  and https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/novel_food/catalogue/search/public/?event=home&seqfce=972&ascii=C 

have been amended retroactively to 1997 in 2019 to include the cannabinoids, even though the same catalogue lists the plant and plant parts of the plant genus Cannabis Sativa L as NOT novel food: 

https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/novel_food/catalogue/search/public/?event=home&seqfce=72&ascii=C  - But here too, the wording was changed last year to apply only to hemp seed oils.

Also the hemp plant itself has always been part of the catalogue of varieties of agricultural crops (page 22)

However, about 50 companies have filled in novel food forms for their CBD products, but the European Commission has paused the applications to get feedback from applicants on its proposal, just-food reported on Friday.

The applicants were informed of the Commission's preliminary views.

EU food legislation is enforced by member states, creating a patchwork of enforcement landscapes across the continent.

 

Who does it affect?

This has created a dilemma for all hemp processing companies in Europe that produce hemp extracts: Hemp extract used to be considered food, now it is not. All those affected are those who want to produce, distribute or buy CBD, CBD oil or hemp extracts, because now it is illegal in food throughout Europe and in the individual countries the companies that produce, distribute or buy hemp extracts are subject to sometimes heavy fines. This even goes so far that in some European states hemp flower teas are confiscated from the shelves.

Does it affect me too?

Yes! -

1. If you use CBD: it will become expensive once it's available only as a drug. 
2. If you do not use CBD: your health insurance system will be put under enormous strain because the drug manufacturers are making it pay to keep CBD off the market.
3. If your cat/dog/horse/pet uses CBD: It might not be possible to get anymore.

Because if CBD is only available in a pharmacy/prescription drug and not in a food, all people using CBD will be able to get CBD at the expense of the health care system and health insurance companies. 

Does CBD have medical applications?

 

Industrial hemp and its extracts have a number of positive effects: 

It works

• anti-inflammatory,
• painkilling
• reassuring, 
• sleep-inducing, 
• Nausea-fighting, 
• anxiety-provoking,
• antispasmodic and 
• also protects the nerve cells - 

whereby it has no or hardly any side effects (only fatigue and dry mouth are more common at higher doses) - i.e. a relatively similar effect to valerian, ginger and peppermint - in one.

What does this mean for me?

CBD will be able to disappear from the market as a natural product, if the citizens do not participate in the decision making process.

The lobby of the pharmaceutical industry is breathing down the neck of the EU Commission and will turn CBD products into a "big player business" within a very short time, which will lead to CBD only being 

• sold as prescription-only medicine
• a pharmaceutical drug and thus become expensive, because
  • every manufacturer has to have a Pharmacy Warehouse
  • access control systems for access to medicines

Is the cannabis a medicine?

 

No! - Because like many other herbs, hemp has always been used for teas and herbal extracts in addition to its use in the paper industry. For the medicinal use of hemp, the European Union has specifically declared "medicinal hemp", which has higher concentrations of THC in the active ingredients. THC is the active ingredient which, in contrast to the CBD and the other cannabinoids of the hemp plant, is known for its psychedelic effect. - These are also biologically different genera, comparable to "sugar maize" and "feed maize" - both are the same plants - but very different.

Just for comparison: the following plant also has medicinal effects, but its extracts are not declared as drugs / poisons:

• Aniseed
  • active ingredients:
    • essential oils,
    • Flavonoids,
    • Phenolic Carboxylic Acids
  • effects:
    • expectorant
    • slightly antispasmodic,
    • antibacterial
    • ejecting,
    • milk-supporting

A corresponding Google search for medicinal herbs and their effects will show you everything else..

 

What are the effects of the Novel Food Regulation?

Since the active ingredients have been added to the catalogue of novel foods in the EU, some companies in Europe have been closed down. Their products were labelled as "Novel Foods" as not marketable and had to be recalled by all manufacturers and retailers at great expense.

• CBD and hemp extract from flowers and leaves of the plant illegal since 2019 if it is intended for human consumption.

In order to make CBD and hemp extract, or CBD-containing products made from hemp, marketable, one must first demonstrate in elaborate studies for each active ingredient of the hemp plant, which has been legally traded up to now, that it 

• has no medicinal use,
• has no side effects & adverse effects.

What was previously considered normal, must now be confirmed and now only a corporation can afford this - and not every small organic farmer. Also CBD is listed as harmless by the WHO or the  World Anti Doping Agency, but this is not enough for the EU.

- Applications have also been made to recognise synthetically produced CBD or synthesised CBD, but the starting position here is confusing and wrong.

Cannabinoids are not a novel food, but a food ingredient:

- Hemp extracts & cannabinoids have always been part of the European diet

Cannabinoids are and have always been part of the useful cannabis plant, which, in contrast to medicinal cannabis, has always had a very low THC content and was therefore also available as food in the EU.

This was already established in 2009 by the European Court of Justice in its judgement reference.: T-234/06

"According to two scientific studies submitted by the OHIM, cannabis, also known as "hemp", is used in the food sector in various forms (oils, herbal teas) and in various preparations (teas, pasta, bakery products, beverages with or without alcohol, etc.). This is confirmed by the documentation submitted by the intervener, which states that hemp is used in the manufacture of certain foodstuffs and certain beverages. Toxicological studies of those products have shown that they have a very low concentration of THC, well below the abovementioned threshold of 0.2%, and therefore do not have any mind-altering effects'. 

Even if one were not to accept these arguments, there are breweries which have been proven to brew beer with hemp flower extracts as early as 1997 (the year of the Novel Food Regulation) and to export it to the EEC or distribute it worldwide / here:

https://www.appenzellerbier.ch/de/bier/hanfbluete.html  - distributes since 1997: Brand: Hemp Blossom

https://www.klosterbrauerei-weissenohe.de/  - brewed according to an old recipe since 2001 

https://www.humboldtbrewingco.com/roots/  Californian beer company that brews hemp beer since 1987 

 

We demand:

Since the plant as well as its extracts have been used in the EU for a long time, we request as follows:

The new cannabinoids added to the Novel Food Regulation

• CBD,
• CBG
• CBN,
• CBC
• etc.

are to be recognised as plant extracts of the cannabis sativa L plant and deleted from the Novel Food Regulation catalogue and at the same time recognised as food / Food stuff.

The considerations regarding the classification as narcotic/drug/prescription drug are to be rejected.

The plant, as well as plant parts of the commercial hemp plant are to be listed accordingly again in the catalogue of varieties https://op.europa.eu/de/publication-detail/-/publication/8e24c8d9-096c-11e3-a352-01aa75ed71a1/language-de  of the European Union. The possibility of using the plant as a foodstuff for cannabis and the extracts from the cannabis plant - as long as they comply with the rules of the valid narcotics (<0.2%THC) - should be enforced throughout Europe.

That will be the result:

If CBD can be made available as food/food stuff:

• CBD can be sold in drugstores.
• CBD oil can be ingeste
• CBD can be processed in food
• CBD can be sold without a medical prescription
• CBD will also become cheaper, as not only 3 pharmaceutical multinationals share the market.