The interim judge of the Council of State considers that nothing justifies such a prohibition in the law, as long as the threshold of 0.3% of THC, the psychoactive substance, is respected.
Seized by traders in the sector after the introduction of a measure prohibiting the sale in the raw state of any flower or leaf of cannabidiol (CBD), the judge in chambers of the Council of State decided to temporarily suspend this measure.
Indeed, even though their THC content is less than 0.3%, in accordance with the law, “the judge notes that this threshold, below which the products are devoid of narcotic properties, is the one retained by the regulations to authorize cultivation, import, export and industrial and commercial use of certain varieties of cannabis”.
Thus, therefore, “the judge in chambers of the Council of State considers that there is a serious doubt about the legality of this general and absolute prohibition measure because of its disproportionate nature”.
A first victory for traders
The summary judge also responds to the difficulty of distinguishing these plants from illegal cannabis flowers. An argument put forward by the authors of the suspended ban measure: “Moreover, it has not been demonstrated that it would be impossible to control this content for flowers and leaves, even though control means are detailed, for the entire plant, in the appendix to the decree.”
If the Council of State has yet to rule definitively on the merits of the legality of the disputed measure, this provisional suspension is already a first victory for the traders, who had seen their turnover plummet since the publication of the ‘stopped.