Roughly one year ago, on December 30, 2021, the government in France issued a ban on the sales of CBD products. CBD products have increased in popularity and availability throughout Europe in recent years, including in France.
Due to ongoing cannabis stigma, some lawmakers and regulators have portrayed CBD as being harmful, and they seem to have dusted off a number of reefer madness talking points that used to be applied to cannabis in general and are now revamping them to be more narrowly focused on CBD.
That stigma and ongoing anti-cannabis rhetoric by opponents have led to CBD crackdowns in some parts of the world. France’s ban was effectively short-lived, as the ban was initially put on hold in January 2022 and is now being lifted altogether.
Another example of a looming CBD crackdown can be found in Hong Kong, where a complete CBD ban is going into effect in 2023. Unlike France, leaders in Hong Kong have made it clear that they will not be reversing course and that the ban will indeed go into effect, and anyone caught violating the new ban will receive years in prison.
Read more at internationalcbc.com