The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) CBD products report was produced in 2021, outlining recommendations to the UK Government on establishing guidelines for the CBD industry.
Previously, recommended limits were set at 0.2 or 0.3 per cent THC per serving of CBD. The new ACMD report set out increased guidelines, recommending that the dose of each controlled phytocannabinoid ‘should not exceed 50 micrograms per unit of consumption’.
The report was published by an ACMD-established working group that set out to examine the appropriate levels of THC in products as well as advise the government on establishing a legal framework for CBD products.
Whilst some industry members have welcomed the move, saying it is a step in the right direction, others have raised concerns that the regulations could destroy the UK consumer CBD market, and that collaboration is needed between industry and Government.
Read more: ACMD releases new advice on THC levels in consumer CBD products
Concerns over recommendations
Edward Henry QC and Jade Proudman, founder of Savage Cabbage and official UK distributor of Charlotte’s Web CBD, suggest that some of the recommendations included in the report are “less than scientific”, and seem to be “so massively risk averse that the consumer CBD sector is at risk of being put out of business by them.”
Speaking to Cannabis Wealth, Proudman commented: “One of the key takeaways for me is that, with all respect to the persons involved in compiling the report, there is a distinct lack of understanding of how this works.
“If we look at it America and how they’ve adopted an industry that has created huge economic benefits in all parts of society, then surely post-Brexit Britain, we should be looking at all the ways possible to create economy, support people and create jobs, and support people’s general health and wellness.
“I think that by looking at the ACMD report, I’m not sure they fully understand the potential huge negative ramifications if that were to be adopted. That’s a distinct concern for everybody in the industry. It would button up and kill the entire industry and we wouldn’t have a CBD industry. I think that that would be foolish for us for many reasons.”
The ACMD report suggests that the amount of CBD and contained should be calculated by individual servings rather that using a recommended daily allowance (RDA).
In the Mountford Chambers blog, Henry and Proudman state: “Calculation by individual serving is impractical, and unenforceable. More importantly, there is real uncertainty as to what the weight of an individual serving might be, across different products, and the effect, depending upon bio availability, of the route of administration.
“All imponderables, requiring further consultation, creating further regulatory uncertainty, complexity, and delay.”
Proudman tells Cannabis Wealth that regulation is needed to ensure the safety and quality of products, but that adopting such recommendations could lead to a black market.
Proudman comments: “We’ve got a recommended daily allowance of CBD which is 70 milligrammes a day which is personally quite low, then it says we can have 50 micrograms of THC per serving.
“That means the entire industry has got to reformulate their products to make sure that ratio is presented.
“That makes it really novel because you’re having to break apart the plants and look isolated compounds to mix and that’s not what we want. We need the plant as mother nature intended – we need to set Mother Nature free.
Proudman continues: “The huge concern of mine is that if something like this be adopted, the immediate effect from is you have got a booming black market. Which completely goes against why we wanted to bring regulation in place in the first place because it was about keeping people safe and ensuring quality products were available.”
Taking responsibility
Henry and Proudman emphasise that CBD industry businesses have a huge role to play in sending a message to Government.
They state: “The industry ought to send a clear and unambiguous message back to Government: RDAs for CBD as an OTC [Over The Counter] preparation, with an acknowledgement that within such an RDA of CBD, an acceptable per cent of THC not to exceed a certain factor will inevitably be present.
“The amount of THC to be found within the RDA of CBD should (we suggest) not exceed 2.5 mg per day, which has been described as a ‘placebo’ level dose according to independent research commissioned by the European Industrial Hemp Association (‘EIHA’).”
Read more: Industry responds to new ACMD CBD product advice
“I think it over the last six years, what has happened is that we have gone through significant progress and evolution, and I think one new thing that is incredibly positive is that an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for CBD has been created,” says Proudman to Cannabis Wealth.
This APPG for CBD is chaired by MP Crispin Blunt and contains a secretariat including the Cannabis Trades Association (CTA) and the Hemp Advisory Board of Scotland, which Proudman highlights is a positive sign of organisations coming together to get things right for the industry.
“This enables us to have a chain of communication directly up to ministers so we can start contributing towards the conversation in a very positive, very matter of fact way,” says Proudman. “I think that’s a very powerful tool to help us discuss and contribute towards the conversations moving forward.”
Proudman highlights that the Government also needs to take responsibility if the report is not properly considered.
“The immediate effects from that is a huge backlash, and then there is all of the people that use these products and enjoy these products searching for black market opportunities,” Proudman comments.
Read more: Will new ACMD THC recommendations impact FSA CBD list?
“We’re just asking for sensible numbers to be discussed to allow whole-plant hemp products to be available on the market like they are in many of the places in the world. What if somebody buys something on the black market because they cannot buy it legally, and they have a significant negative effect because there’s toxins in the product and it results in a traumatic event?
“That’s a distinct possibility.”
Proudman highlights that the, so far, two-year Novel Foods process has killed off numerous businesses in the industry who have not been able to afford to go through the application process.
Proudman says: “There’s a significant amount of companies that are no longer in existence because of the grey areas, the fears and the distinct amount of uncertainty there is around what’s going on.
“I do think we are very much in a position now whereby we’re starting to collaborate effectively. I’m hoping that it’s a positive catalyst for change, because it opens communication channels, and that’s something we’ve never really had properly before.”
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