Hong Kong to ban CBD

According to the Hong Kong Free Press, a security panel of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council announced in June that it would pursue a ban on CBD. In a written paper, the council claimed that this is because CBD always has the potential to contain trace amounts of THC. “It is almost inevitable that CBD products made from CBD isolates will contain certain amounts of THC, even if in trace amounts or at levels below the detection limits of various analytical methods,” the council wrote.

This enforcement leads to the crackdown on many CBD companies. In one example, the story of Daniel (a fake name to protect the person’s identity) explained the situation. He had been in business for three years before the raid took place. “My head went blank as I watched the officers take all my products off the shelves one by one,” Daniel said. “Everything I’ve done has been for nothing.” Daniel noted that no official told him his products contained THC. Before the raid, he personally sent in products for testing, reporting no THC present.

Hong Kong law enforcement has been targeting CBD entrepreneurs since November 2021 after they seized more than 30,000 CBD products. An unknown number of these products were tested, and a third reportedly contained THC.

The Hong Kong Free Press also noted that 34 people were arrested for “dealing in and possession of dangerous drugs.” No charges have been brought and all have been released on bail, although they are still under investigation. According to the Narcotics Division, “Any amount of a dangerous drug is a dangerous drug.”

The Legislative Council paper claimed that CBD will break down into THC. Hong Kong Free Press reached out to University of California Davis Professor Donald Land, who confirmed this to be true, but any THC produced would produce “an extremely small effect.” “The government’s position clearly indicates the mere presence of a dangerous drug in any quantity and not its effect or lack thereof,” Land said.

Denise Tam, owner of online CBD shop Heavens Please, also spoke about the government’s reasoning. “As we know, there is no such thing as absolute zero in science,” Tam said. “The government probably found 0.00001 percent THC. What are the implications?

Clinical Assistant Professor Dr. Albert Chung of Hong Long University’s Department of Psychiatry told Hong Kong Free Press that research on THC is more limited than research on CBD. For law enforcement, however, cannabis is defined as a “dangerous drug.” “In Hong Kong, all psychoactive drugs including cannabis, ketamine, opioids are categorized [by authorities] into a group—dangerous drugs,” Chung said.

Chung recently published a study entitled “Hong Kong Medical Students’ Attitudes and Beliefs About Cannabis.” Though his students supported “training and research” on cannabis, Chung believes it could be years before Hong Kong recognizes CBD’s effectiveness as a medicine rather than a dangerous drug. “It would be quite difficult for Hong Kong to have medicinal cannabis in the next 10 years,” Chung said.

In the meantime, it appears that some patients who have experienced relief with CBD are stocking up and anticipating that CBD will quickly disappear from store shelves for the time being. “Being able to sell CBD even in Hong Kong was a big step. Now we’re moving backwards,” said one consumer.

As early as September 2020, Hong Kong’s first CBD cafe called Found opened in the Sheung Wan district. However, the cafe announced on Aug. 19 that it was closing in anticipation of the looming CBD ban. “Sadly, despite the proven positive effects, it has now become apparent that the Hong Kong government intends to pass new legislation to ban the sale and possession of CBD,” Found wrote on his Instagram page. “Although we don’t know exactly when it will come into effect, it is likely to happen in late 2022 or early 2023. With that, we had to make the difficult decision to close the found café at the end of September. ”