France: Council of State lifts ban on sale of hemp flowers and leaves

The French Council of State lifted yesterday, January 24, the ban on the sale of hemp flowers and leaves containing CBD (cannabidiol), announced the AFP (Agence France Presse) it's the Le Monde. The highest administrative authority in France had been triggered by farmers and professionals in the hemp sector, which intended to urgently suspend an ordinance of the Ministry of Health of 30 December, which prohibited the possession or sale of flowers or leaves of the plant containing CBD. France is the biggest hemp producer in Europe, with companies invest millions in the sector.

In the order, the Council of State considered that “it does not follow from the instruction (…) that hemp flowers and leaves whose THC content [delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychotropic molecule of cannabis] does not exceed 0,30% have a degree of harmfulness to health that justifies a general and absolute ban on its sale to the consumer and its consumption”. The suspension is provisional, pending the body “decided definitively on the merits of the legality of the contested decree”, explains a press release.

The French State will now have to pay the total amount of 13 thousand euros to the thirteen companies that are candidates for the cultivation of hemp in the country.

France had around 400 CBD stores at the start of 2021
According to Le Monde, France had around 400 CBD stores in early 2021, but now there are nearly four times as many. The sector's turnover is estimated by the unions at around one billion euros, two thirds coming from the sale of raw flowers and leaves.

Aurélien Delecroix, president of the Hemp Union, told Le Monde: “For us, it was a thorn in our side, we were desperate and it jeopardized the entire sector. The horizon is clearing up, but everything still needs to be done”.

Also Uzan-Sarano, lawyer for the hemp union, said that “the ministry tried to defend a public health argument that, in any case, did not hold up” and Xavier Pizarro, lawyer for the CBD Professionals Union, welcomed a decision that testifies to a “domain of European law, where the government wants to carry out a political coup”.

The Confederation of Tobacco Shops reiterated, for its part, its request that “the sale of products with CBD be framed by clear, reassuring and lasting rules”, lamenting “a new turnaround” that “ once again plunges the CBD market into confusion” , pending a decision.

European Court of Justice had already ruled favorably in 2020
In November 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the ban of the sale of CBD between Member States, authorized in several European countries, in the name of the principle of free movement of goods. The European justice considered that CBD had “no harmful effect on health” and could not be considered a narcotic. The Court of Cassation, the highest court in the French court order, followed suit in June 2021, considering that any CBD legally produced in the EU could be sold in France.

These decisions arose following the case KanaVape, in which the French Sebastien Béguerie was acquitted. Speaking to Cannareporter, Sebastien now said that “once again, it is reality catching up with political ideology and re-confirming the Kanavape judgment on the legality and safety of CBD in all its forms, including the flower, in the hope that France can finally pragmatically regulate this flourishing market”.