The wave of Brussels weeds reaches a new peak – POLITICO

For cannabis entrepreneurs in Brussels, business is booming.

Fom Ly short Cannabis Social Club Brussels, distributing flowers and oils around the city when club members place orders on his mobile app. He recently replaced his pusher deliveryman with an electric delivery because of the popularity of the service.

Near Ma Campagne, crossroads of Saint-Gilles attended by young professionals in Brussels, four stores within a radius of 650 meters sell cannabis products to people wishing to relax or relieve pain or pain. Anxiety, often on the advice of their doctor. , according to Grigor Sarkisov, owner of a store.

The booming industry is a new but increasingly visible part of life in the Belgian capital, as companies and non-profit social clubs exploit a legal gray area. What they sell, is cannabidiol, or CBD, a non-psychoactive chemical component that is found in marijuana.

Although national regulations are in place to limit marijuana as a drug or illegal drug, EU agricultural legislation allows the sale of industrial hemp, a variety of cannabis grown for the manufacture of fabrics or ropes, provided that it contains only traces of the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana, THC. .

"The problem for these CBD stores is that they operate in a legal minefield" – Anton Buntinx, lawyer at Corbus Advocaten

EU farmers are also allowed to grow industrial hemp if it contains less than 0.2% THC. But neither the European nor the Belgian national laws deal directly with these hemp products marketed as CBD in Brussels. Different forms can be smoked, ingested or applied to the skin, users describing feelings of relaxation, happiness and increased energy.

Ly, a self-proclaimed "multi-entrepreneur", founded its CBD delivery service in October. He imported products from Switzerland and repackaged them in plastic bags for distribution (although he plans to switch to glbad jars respectful of his mind). . "I thought, 'Oh my god, I can not miss the top of the CBD,'" he said.

The burgeoning industry represents a challenge for regulators, while the lack of legal clarity is pushing CBD sellers to be creative in marketing and labeling tactics.

"People selling products based on the use of CBD [the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy] The legislation is a bit of a shield to say, "Ah, but they have less than 0.2% THC, so we can legally sell it." And they are right, "said Olivier Christiaens, spokesman for the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products.

However, the sale of an agricultural product differs from the sale of a final product intended to be consumed or used as a drug, which would fall under the supervision of the Belgian federal agencies for medicines or foods if store owners were honest about the destination of the products.

"The problem for these CBD stores is that they operate in a legal minefield," said Anton Buntinx, a lawyer at the Belgium-based law firm Corbus Advocaten, who advises its clients on the culture and the distribution of cannabis for medical and scientific purposes.

To circumvent the Belgian laws on food and medicine, the trader Sarkisov sells small pots of flowers of hemp and CBD oil in the form of potpourri and collectible trinkets in his shop Feeling Light CBD on the Chaussée de Charleroi. The plastic candy bags that Ly sends to her members are labeled "Do not smoke and do not smoke," despite the club logo on which a marijuana leaf is written.

"What customers do with it is not our problem," said Ly, adding that "we are all lying."

Legal gray area

StreetShop, the first CBD store in Brussels, opened near Place Flagey in July. A month later, the police confiscated stocks and made two more raids in the following months, according to co-owner Kevin Goumet.

Authorities tested the products and discovered that they contained less than 0.2% THC. In January, everything was returned to the store. Standing next to Bob Marley rolling paper display stands and paper stands, Goumet said In Belgium, the medicines regulatory authority also warned the petitioner to stop selling CBD oils.

"It's a bit hard to say that these products are sold legally" – Olivier Christiaens, spokesperson for the Belgian Federal Agency for Medicines and Health Products

When StreetShop recovered its inventory in January, more stores appeared across the city, many of which were selling CBD products with electronic cigarettes. The number of stores in Belgium is currently estimated at 100.

According to Ly, people were asking, "Is this really happening? Is there really any legal cannabis that you can buy? & # 39; "The authorities"tried to slow down … but it did not really work, "he said.

The explosion followed the government's decision in September 2017 to promulgate a royal decree that cannabis products containing less than 0.2% THC would be excluded from the scope of the Belgian drug law. psychotropic substances and other controlled substances.

As long as sellers do not claim that their products have beneficial effects on health, they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Agency for Drugs. The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain, responsible for food products sold in Belgium, does not monitor CBD oils – which can be added to foods and beverages – if they are explicitly labeled as not intended for the consumption.

"Naturally, they sell these products not intended for human consumption, but everyone knows that the customers who use them will buy them and consume them at home," said Christiaens, spokesperson for the company. drug agency. "It's a bit hard to say that they're sold legally."

As European countries reconsider their position on marijuana, the Belgian federal government is considering new rules that would ease controls over the cultivation and sale of cannabis specifically for medical purposes.

Last month, the parliamentary health committee pbaded legislation to create a medical cannabis office in the United States.However, any new regulation could take years.

Misty future

Many shop owners have stated that they want more formal regulation, although they are concerned that this will lead to big companies taking over, which would take them out of the market..

"In Belgium … the authorities are a bit afraid of tackling the problem" – Eveline Van Keymeulen, Attorney at Allen & Overy

Eveline Van Keymeulen, a life sciences lawyer with Allen & Overy, a law firm specializing in the regulation of cannabis and hemp, said she would "advocate for a clearer framework for cannabis and hemp products" of the EU.

"What we are seeing for the moment in Belgium, but also in many other Member States, is that the authorities are a little afraid to take the problem head-on. They adopt a very very restrictive position, as to ban everything … [but] so of course you create legal uncertainty, confusion and people start trying all kinds of things, "she said.

Keymeulen said the best way forward would be for the EU to adopt a "product category approach" to regulate the CBD. This would mean using the existing EU-level regulation for cosmetic products, medicines and food products to ensure consumer safety when it comes to CBD-based products, instead of asking each country to define its own rules.

Belgium is not the only country trying to understand. Streetshop Goumet said he has five points of sale in France but added that stores in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Nantes are only allowed to sell accessories such as bongs and sprays. Its stores in Montpellier and Nice sell products based on CBD.

Goumet said that in Brussels, he would like the points of sale to be offered a formal license. This would serve to guarantee their right to sell products and to give shop owners something to show to the police. "Then there would be more confusion," he says.