Are CBD Vape Oils and Other CBD Products on Sale in the UK?
A quarter of a million people in the UK now use CBD – or cannabidiol – products to ease anxiety, sleep problems and chronic pain. It’s a natural substance found in the cannabis plant but unlike its partner chemical tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) it doesn’t make you high. But with sales soaring it’s becoming the latest health craze and claims are that it can do everything from reducing stress to helping with depression. But are the products on sale really what they claim to be? A recent lab study found that some high street brands don’t contain the CBD they claim to. In fact, 62 per cent of the CBD vape oil samples tested failed to have the amount of cannabidiol promised on their labels. And where there was a measurable amount of non-toxic cannabinoids, some had a lot more of the intoxicating THC – which is illegal in the UK and can lead to a “cannabis high”.
The CBD market is expanding fast, with products now on sale from a variety of outlets – including supermarkets and health food shops – and a huge online range. But the rapid growth has attracted opportunists who are using the new popularity to peddle substandard products. According to Mark Reinders, the president of the European Hemp Industry Association, a new breed of “CBD cowboys” is taking advantage of the booming market, targeting customers with misleading advertisements. One example is a product sold by the UK-based company JustCBD that advertised itself as containing both CBD and THC, but when tested it contained no measurable amounts of the non-toxic cannabinoids. It did, however, have low levels of THC and cannabinol – the psychoactive compounds that do cause a high.
But many people don’t know what’s in their CBD products or the effects they might have – especially if they’re bought from websites that sell them without a licence. CBD products aren’t regulated in the same way as medicines and so sellers are not allowed to make explicit health claims. And that’s a problem, says Charlotte Caldwell who campaigns for access to medical cannabis for her son Billy, who has severe epilepsy. She has been contacted by hundreds of people and parents who have told her they are turning to CBD because it eases their pain, insomnia and depression.
Our survey found that people are more likely to buy CBD for wellness reasons than medicinally. Only a small number of cannabis-based products are available on prescription as medicinal cannabis and those that are are designed to help with specific symptoms such as muscle spasticity from MS, and only in cases where other treatments don’t work. One such medication is called Nabilone, which can be sprayed into the mouth and has been shown to ease some of these symptoms in people with MS who haven’t responded to other treatments.
From April 2021, most existing over-the-counter CBD wellness products will need to be validated as a novel food and undergo safety testing before they can be sold to the public. This means that they could be withdrawn from sale if they contain unsafe levels of certain chemicals – such as delta-8/9 THC.UK CBD
