Slovakia, a member country of the European Union, just became the last nation to formally declare on a federal level that CBD is not psychotropic. As of March 18, the Ministry of Health submitted a formal proposal to legalize cannabidiol, using the United Nations ruling as a guideline.
This is hardly news. After all, CBD was officially reclassified as “not a narcotic” at the European level last fall. This in turn, effectively created an environment within the EU on a regional level, at least for hemp, much like the United States post 2018 Farm Bill. Slovakia is just the last sovereign government to “get the memo.” Yet the road from here is still far from clear.
The fact of the matter is that the debate on the many issues surrounding homogeneity on cannabis regulations across the EU are just getting started. That includes how CBD fits into products consumed by both humans and pets. It also includes much larger issues about the industry on the “consumer” if not “recreational” level.
One of the largest bugbears is how both the plant and individual cannabinoids far from CBD are treated. For example, even hemp is technically listed in the German Narcotics Act. On a regional level, however, there are loopholes about THC-free extracts being added to food. Cross border, these are even more contentious—although to the extent that these have begun to show up in court (including in France last year and Germany just last month), European regulations, where present, have begun to shape conversations at a national level even if they are not decisive.
Beyond this, as no doubt will start to become evident as of next year, big discussions about “Novel Food” and cannabinoids are not going to be limited just to CBD (as they have so far). THC-laden chocolate, for example, will fall into the same bucket as its fellow cannabinoid—and so far, the issues over just CBD are far from over.
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