WHO Recommends Removing Hemp CBD from International Control

by Chris Husong

The World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) just released exciting new recommendations for CBD: namely, that any hemp CBD product with less than 0.2% THC be 100% removed from international control.

Hemp CBD removal from worldwide controlled substance schedules would change the game for both the international industry, as well as consumers.

That means CBD from industrial hemp would be completely excluded from the international controlled substances schedule.

The report from the WHO recommended the addition of a footnote to Schedule I of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs that says, “Preparations containing predominantly cannabidiol and not more than 0.2% of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol are not under international control.”

A Critical International Distinction for CBD

If the WHO’s recommendations are followed worldwide, this will be an important distinction for hemp CBD products. Descheduling CBD products made from industrial hemp on an international level will open CBD access to an unprecedented number of individuals around the world.

Hemp CBD regulations still vary from one country to the next. Here in the United States, CBD access has opened nationwide in the wake of the 2018 Farm Bill, signed into law in December 2018. We hope to see citizens of countries around the world enjoying the same access to hemp cannabidiol products that we’re experiencing now in the U.S.

Worldwide Hemp Markets Continue to Expand

While the news of the WHO’s new recommendations was breaking, Elixinol CEO and co-founder Paul Benhaim was attending (and presenting at) the first-ever Asian Hemp Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal, which took place February 1-2, 2019.

The objective of the summit was to bring together industrial hemp representatives from Asia and around the world to take a deep dive into the state of the Asian industrial hemp market.

Multiple countries were represented, including the U.S., Australia, Czech Republic, France, Mongolia, Japan, Germany, and more.

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