Is CBD oil legal in UK cities?
That’s a question that many people are beginning to ask these days.
After all, countless consumers around the world are suffering from issues like anxiety, pain, discomfort, and chronic illness. While there are medications that can help with many of those things, they’re packed full of chemicals that many people would rather not expose themselves to.
CBD oil and CBD substances promise to deliver a more natural solution to common medications, providing support for everything from chronic pain to epilepsy. CBD oils are even being trialed to help with common health conditions like arthritis and anxiety.
However, before you can get swept up in the popularity of CBD and its oils, it’s important that you know the basics of CBD oil UK law.
Today, we’re going to answer the question, “Is cannabis oil legal in the UK?” and look at how you can use this substance safely, without putting yourself and your family at risk.
What is CBD Oil?
Before we can answer the question, “Is Hemp oil legal?” we need to figure out what CBD oil or hemp oil actually is. The number of people using hemp and cannabis products in the UK is growing at an incredible rate lately, standing at around 1.3 million users per year.
Advocates of this wonder product say that it can help with everything from chronic pain to inflammation, but there are still many people out there who don’t fully understand what CBD oil is, and what it can do.
The first thing you need to know about Cannabidiol or CBD is that it usually comes from industrial hemp, also known as Cannabis sativa. The cannabis plant is made up of more than 100 different kinds of chemical compounds called cannabinoids. These compounds act on receptors in cells that alter neurotransmitter release in the human brain. The different chemical compounds in the cannabis plant have different effects.
CBD is one of the compounds in the cannabis plant that produces great health benefits but doesn’t get individuals “high”. In contrast, THC is another substance in cannabis that does cause psychoactive results. This substance is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs act.
Why is CBD Oil Used in the UK?
In the UK, CBD oil is an incredibly popular substance for many reasons. In recent years, healthcare groups and scientists have begun to conduct studies into cannabis oil and how it works to overcome problems like anxiety, cancer, diabetes, and more. A 2017 study by WHO found that CBD could deliver positive effects and relief for a wide selection of problems, ranging from general anxiety to pain and depression. One other study found that CBD may even be helpful at improving weight loss.
There’s still a great deal of research to be done into how beneficial CBD oil actually is to modern users or how effective it is for medicinal purposes in the future. However, CBD oil does appear to have more positive side effects than negative ones. Offering support for everything from epilepsy, to cancer and beyond, there’s hope that this fantastic substance could make a huge difference to different treatment modalities in medicine.
Although it remains to be determined for certain how many benefits CBD oil actually has, the general response that many people have had to this substance has lead for the regulatory authorities in the UK to consider the substance to be relatively safe. However, there are restrictions on how this substance can be legally sold.
If you fail to follow rules on THC content, and on how you classify your CBD oils, then there’s a high chance that you could get your CBD banned in the UK. The laws governing the use of hemp oil are very strict.
Is CBD Oil Legal in the UK?
The basic answer to “Is CBD flower legal in UK” is “yes”. CBD products, in general, are not banned in the UK. However, there are restrictions on how companies can sell products in the CBD industry. While CBD is legal, it needs to be sold as a food product or food supplement, rather than a medicinal substance. That’s because the substance hasn’t been fully approved for medicinal purposes yet.
The good news is that unlike other components of the cannabis plant, CBD is not restricted by the misuse of drugs act 1971. The only exception to that rule is when CBD oils or food contains more than a certain amount of THC. Under the CBD oil UK law, companies are required to commit to keeping as much THC as possible out of their products There’s virtually no THC allowed in these products at all, which means that it won’t get you high.
The only possible way to get a combination of THC and CBD to deal with various health problems is to secure a prescription for the medical treatment of multiple sclerosis. Sativex, a drug that reduces Multiple Sclerosis symptoms, contains a 50-50 mix of CBD and THC.
All other CBD products containing THC will be classed by UK law as a Class B drug under the Misuse of Drugs act. Crucially, companies planning to sell CBD in the UK also need to make sure that they have permission to do so with the right certificate and legislation. Until there’s a CBD law change, all CBD products sold in the country must also be correctly labelled as a food supplement and not as medicine.
How is CBD Oil Used?
Now that CBD is taking on industrial level popularity across the UK, we’re finding that this substance is appearing in multiple shapes and forms. Everyone wants to take advantage of the CBD trend in the UK, and the result has been an explosion of new products, ranging from CBD oils to pills, capsules, and tinctures. Some of the options for CBD users today include:
• Capsules: These are easy to take and ensure that you don’t have to worry about measuring the right dosage for a cream or tincture when taking CBD oil. These are also a good option or people who don’t like the taste of CBD oils.
• Vaping: liquids for vaping pens can come infused with CBD e-liquids. These are readily available and very easy to add to your current lifestyle. However, it can be hard to consume a precise dosage of this substance.
• Tinctures or Pastes: Tinctures and CBD pastes are some of the most common ways to take CBD. They come in the form of a thicker liquid that can be delivered under the tongue. These methods allow for CBD to enter your bloodstream relatively quickly.
• Edibles: It is possible to eat foods like brownies, sweets, and even cookies that contain CBD. You can find these products in locations all around the UK, and in specialist food shops. The food options are more of a novelty than anything else.
• Topical creams: The CBD flower and oil can sometimes be combined into a topical balm or cream that can be applied directly to the skin for people suffering from problems like muscular pain or arthritis.
When Did the CBD Law Change in the UK?
With so many new forms of CBD oil in the market today, you might be wondering where the rise of CBD oil came from. What changed in the UK over the years to help us discover the health benefits of CBD in food, and start producing this substance at an industrial scale?
The Cannabis laws in the Drugs Act of 1971 were first introduced into the United Kingdom in 1982. These laws laid out the misuse of drug regulations and identified cannabis as a controlled substance that was not legal in the UK. In 2001, however, the Misuse of drugs regulation guides were updated, allowing people to grow cannabis if it was for research purposes. The first cannabis-focused medicine introduced on an industrial level was then made available in 2015.
Today, people have learned a lot more about CBD and how the oil works. This means that the definition of cannabis as a controlled substance has changed once again. Now, the UK is a country where CBD products are legal in everything from food to drops. However, the THC level of all CBD products must be below 0.2%. Negligible THC levels in CBD oil won’t yield positive results on a drug screen.
If anyone in the UK attempts to grow cannabis at an industrial level with a Tetrahydrocannabinol level that is higher than legal THC limit UK, then they will need to subscribe to a specialist programme with the Home Office. It is illegal to grow cannabis with a high content of THC without a proper licence. There is a license type available from the Home Office that allows people to grow cannabis with a higher TCH content, but this license is only available to scientists and researchers.
Is CBD Safe?
Just because a product like CBD is now legal, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s safe to be used as medicine. The best thing you can do is make sure that you speak to a medical professional before you take any CBD, and see whether they have any recommendations for the cannabis product that you should take.
It’s also worth making sure that any CBD oil you consider has been tested to the highest standards. Different CBD oil products are extracted and delivered in different ways. The best products come with plenty of testing information that you can search for and read online. The more you know about your CBD products, the better.
Understanding CBD Laws in the UK
Ever since the changes to the misuse of drugs regulations were made in 2015, the interest around cannabis and CBD oil in the UK have continued to grow. So, is CBD oil legal in the UK? Yes, CBD oil is considered legal, provided that the THC content is low enough to adhere to the regulations laid out by the home office.
If a CBD product is available with a content of less than 0.2 THC, then it should be available to use legally in the UK. You may also be able to find many products from CBD manufacturers that have no THC in them at all. There are a number of food-based substances that have very little THC in them.
Although the demand for CBD oil is growing, as more people subscribe to the health benefits that this plant can offer, it’s still very early days for the medicinal product. There still isn’t a licence available for people to grow and sell CBD as a medical product – as it’s still classified as a food supplement. Additionally, there’s no evidence that the cultivation of CBD products will lead to the cure of any long-term illnesses or medical conditions.
On the plus side, the fact that there’s a law allowing the use of CBD products means that continuing research is ongoing into the benefits of this product and what it could do for us in the future. Now that CBD is legal for everyone in the UK to use, we’re likely to continue seeing the rise of new CBD solutions for various ailments around the country.