United Kingdom should raise THC allowed in hemp, panel recommends

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The United Kingdom should increase the amount of THC allowed in hemp to 0.3%, a government-appointed advisory panel has recommended.

In a memo published Oct. 23, the U.K.’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs said “the potential benefits” of raising the country’s THC limit from 0.2% “outweigh an increased risk of harms.”

Doing so would bring the U.K. in line with the United States and European Union, which follow a 0.3% limit.

It would also “provide growers with access to substantially more hemp varieties,” including those grown in Europe.

And it could potentially aid British hemp farmers’ ability to export their crop to other markets, the panel found.

The development was first reported by Hemp Today.

Recommendation from expert panel

The Advisory Council is a panel of experts tasked with providing expertise to the Home Office, which manages law enforcement in the country.

The panel noted that the EU didn’t raise its THC limit in hemp until 2023.

“We are not aware of any evidence as to the impact this change has had on diversion at present,” the report said in part.

However, it added, all appears well in the U.S. and Canada.

“In the North American hemp market, there have been no health problems reported in the last 12 years,” the report said in part.

Applies to outdoor-grown industrial hemp

Notably, the U.K. recommendation applies only to “industrial hemp grown outdoors for seed production or in order to use the non-controlled parts of the plant to produce fibre for use in the construction and textile industries.”

No mention was made of hemp intended for extraction into consumer products such as CBD oil.

Nor did the report address the issue, prevalent in the United States, of hemp processed into products with intoxicating levels of THC.

That’s in part because the U.K. law is clear: CBD products can contain only limited amounts of THC.

It’s unclear when Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government might act on the recommendation.

Starmer has said repeatedly he has no plans to change U.K. drug laws.

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