This puts families and individuals with medical conditions in need of the plant’s extractions and derivatives in a difficult situation.

So Is Marijuana Legal in Australia?

One story shared with us by a customer exposes the dilemma faced by many such people. It is not easy to access medical marijuana, especially if one does not want anything to do with underground suppliers and cartels.

Tara is an eight-year-old girl suffering from Dravet Syndrome, a severe epilepsy condition that affects kids and whose victims rarely reach their 10th birthdays. Tara’s parents Cheri and David O’Connell are a worried couple, because there is a likelihood that the supply of medical marijuana that report has kept their girl seizure-free for close to a year is going to stop soon.

Medical marijuana brought hope to them in their darkest moments. Tara was experiencing up to 200 seizures daily, and her doctors had warned that she was not likely to live past seven. However, a few days after putting her on marijuana medication, the family says everything changed for the better. Even Child Neurology doctor Lindsay Smith described her recovery as “nothing short of miraculous.”

The O’Connells are now able to take their girl out, something they only dreamed of before. She is even able to attend part-time school now. After these developments, they thought they had only her intellectual impairment to deal with, but it seems they were wrong.

The cause of their worries is the arrest of  Mr. Anthony David Bower, the one person who has been providing them with the medicinal marijuana for their daughter. Mr. Bower is not allowed to continue growing and supplying marijuana. This is despite the fact that he has been supplying families in need without asking for any payment.

With supplies to last them only a few months, the O’Connells are in despair, not knowing what to do next.

Ms. O’Connell said that, “If he’s jailed for two years, then that’s it: game over, Tara will die. I’m so angry. We can’t really make any plans anymore; we don’t know what the future holds.”

Before this turn of events, Mr. Bower’s Mulaways Medical Cannabis was the only registered medical marijuana establishment in Australia. He supplied the medication to hundreds of other families.

The hope and prayer of Ms. O’Connell’s family are that the Therapeutic Goods Administration will conduct medical trials to examine the effectiveness of the plant in treating conditions like Tara’s. This will unlock the necessary policy and legal change regarding cultivation, possession and use of marijuana, especially for medicinal use.

The post Is Marijuana Legal in Australia? appeared first on Healthy Hemp Oil.

The case of a Canadian man who was denied entry into the U.S. because he admitted to having smoked cannabis recreationally has set off a debate about the power being wielded by border agents and their use of a federal law against marijuana use.

Given Canada’s plans to legalize marijuana, there are understandably some concerns within the Canadian government about the ability for its citizens to travel across the border relatively unimpeded. What’s even more baffling is the fact that citizens from British Columbia would be crossing the border into Washington State, one of the four U.S. states where even recreational cannabis use is legal.

A Ludicrous Situation

Speaking to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale admitted that this was a ludicrous situation given the status of marijuana as legal for medicinal use in 25 states plus the District of Columbia and legal for recreational use in four.

And a spokesman said that, while the two governments have been in contact with one another regarding Canada’s plans to legalize marijuana, the issue of Canadians being stopped at the border and subsequently banned from entering has not yet been discussed.

Honesty – Not the Best Policy?

The Canadian man whose honesty brought this issue to light is 39-year-old British Columbia resident Matthew Harvey. He was stopped at a border crossing in Washington state in 2014 when he was 37. He was asked if he had used marijuana recreationally in the past when a customs officer happened to notice a marijuana magazine in his car.

He was then hauled in for further questioning and detained for six hours before being denied entry at that moment in time and banned from future entry.

Now, put yourself in Matthew’s shoes for a moment. A legal medical marijuana user in Canada, who was driving into a state where marijuana (both medicinal and recreational) is legal – there’s every chance you wouldn’t think twice about telling the truth either.

But while cannabis is legal at a state level, it is still illegal at the federal level. And the U.S. Federal Government controls the border, so you can see why things become a little fuzzy.

Matthew can still apply for a travel waiver in order to be admitted to the U.S. on a temporary basis, but this is both expensive – costing $585 ($752 Cdn) – and entirely discretionary, in that the waiver may be okay for one year, two years, or five years, depending on the discretion of the approval officer.

And when the waiver expires, he’ll have to apply and pay once again, and the fee is set to increase to $930 ($1,195) later this year.

All Change in the North

The Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swept to victory in 2015 after campaigning on a promise to legalize recreational marijuana in Canada. The government is set to introduce legislation by the spring of 2017.

This progressive stance north of the border mirrors that of a number of states across the U.S. And that number could be set to grow further with nine more states heading to the polls in November to vote on recreational or medical marijuana proposals.

Yet the sticking point for Canadian citizens wishing to cross the border into the United States is the immigration law as it currently exists. Individuals will become ineligible for admittance into the country if they voluntarily admit to having committed a crime involving moral turpitude – in other words, “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty or good morals.”

And, if Canada follows through on its plans to legalize marijuana in 2017, further complications might arise. The U.S. law can prevent people from entering the country if they admit to having used drugs “illegally”; however, it does not ban people from crossing if they currently use drugs legally.

This may result in a situation where a border agent, at his or her own discretion, denies a person entry not because they currently use cannabis legally but because there’s a fairly good chance they’ve used it illegally at some point in the past.

Crossing the Marijuana Border: What to Say When Heading South

As Ralph Goodale pointed out to CBC that Canadian citizens should be well advised that the United States of America will enforce its federal laws as it deems necessary. On the face of it, that’s all good and well. It’s another country’s laws, and there’s not a lot that can be done about it.

However, the sheer hypocrisy of a border existing between two locations where cannabis is legal, which prevents the movement of a person who has admitted to consuming cannabis is still hard to swallow. What’s more, there are plenty of other legitimate criminal acts that do not throw up barriers to entering the U.S., such as a DUI conviction, for example.

And Matthew Harvey is not the only one to succumb to this crazy decision. A Toronto law firm has reportedly heard from at least 50 people during the past two years who were banned from entering the United States for being too honest with a border agent when pressed about marijuana use.

So, Canadians, what exactly should you say if you’re planning a sojourn south of the border?

Well, you can very simply refuse to answer the question. You might be held for several hours, but there is no legal requirement to answer when asked. Or, if you’re in a hurry to beat the lines at Disney World, you can flat out deny any past cannabis use whatsoever.

That should see you safely on your way into the land of the free and onto Space Mountain.

Are you from Canada? Have you encountered issues crossing the border? Do you think things need to change to allow for the legality of marijuana in both countries? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

The post How The Marijuana Border Policy Can Deny Canadian Users Entry Into U.S. appeared first on Healthy Hemp Oil.

British consumers can now purchase any number and type of CBD products from a wide range of websites and brick-and-mortar stores. These products include CBD oils, tinctures, topical ointments, and vaporizers.

But are they all above board and legal to purchase in the UK without falling foul of the authorities? Those selling the products are adamant that, because CBD is not scheduled by the Home Office (the UK’s government department responsible for immigration, counter-terrorism, police, and drug policy) as a controlled substance, it is not covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act.

And the very fact that these businesses have been able to operate for a number of years unimpeded by the long arm of the law would suggest that this assertion is correct.

However, there does appear to be some language in the Misuse of Drugs Act that muddies the legal waters. In this article, we will look at the CBD UK laws and regulations and attempt to better understand the legal status of cannabidiol products in Britain.

The Legal Status of CBD in the UK

The status of CBD in the UK was brought into sharp focus thanks to an email sent to the Home Office in March of 2015. The initial email, sent as a Freedom of Information request, simply sought advice on the current legal status of the use and distribution of CBD.

The response, which you can read in full here, confirmed that CBD on its own is not covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 or the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001, and, as such, any product that contains CBD alone is not considered to be illegal.

But in the very same response came a caveat: If a product contains a substance that is controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, such as tetrahydrocannabinol (a.k.a. THC, the psychoactive cannabinoid found in cannabis), then it would be illegal to produce and distribute – or, at the very least, it would require a special license.  

And Here’s Where Things Get Complicated

The CBD industry continues to grow in the UK, suggesting that those distributing the products are not overly concerned by the rather precarious nature of the CBD UK laws and regulations. There may be an assumption that, because CBD does not itself come under the Misuse of Drugs Act, then any CBD-related product is legally available for sale.

But are these CBD retailers sailing a little too close to the wind?

You see, the previously mentioned caveat in their response does not mention at what point a CBD product becomes illegal when it also contains a controlled substance. This means that even trace amounts of something like THC could land CBD UK retailers in hot water with the Home Office.

If they wished to sell CBD products containing even the smallest amount of THC, then they would be legally required to have a Home Office license to import and supply them.

It seems probable that many CBD products currently being sold in the UK will, in fact, contain trace elements of THC. And it also seems probable that many producers and retailers are operating in this field without a Home Office license. It therefore stands to reason that a large number of CBD products being sold in the UK are, at best, open to scrutiny from the authorities. At worst? They are completely illegal.

The Psychoactive Substances Act

And so we come to another issue. The Psychoactive Substances Act (PSA), which was introduced in May of 2016, is intended to restrict the production, sale and supply of psychoactive substances often referred to as “legal highs.”

The law’s definition of a “psychoactive substance” is anything that, “by stimulating or depressing the person’s central nervous system … affects the person’s mental functioning or emotional state.”

The PSA bans all such substances but exempts alcohol, tobacco or nicotine-based products, caffeine, food and drink, medicinal products, and any drug that is already regulated under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

So what’s the problem? Well, CBD was barely mentioned. Some may argue that, because it is generally accepted that CBD is, unlike THC, not psychoactive, it would not be subject to restriction under the Act.

However, the language is so incredibly vague that it could be open to abuse by the authorities.

Barrister Matthew Scott, writing in the Telegraph, called it “bad legislation” and described it as an attempt to “ban pleasure.” But it was passed all the same, leaving CBD producers and suppliers with another not-altogether-clear piece of legislation to worry about.

You only have to look at the answers to these questions to see where the confusion lies:

• Is CBD clearly exempt under the PSA? No.
• Is CBD a controlled substance covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act, which supersedes the PSA? No.
• Is CBD psychoactive? No, but it may still fall foul of the PSA’s vague definition of a psychoactive substance.

Can I Buy CBD Products in the UK Without Repercussion?

In short, yes.

Despite clumsily worded legislation leaving the door ajar, no one has faced prosecution for producing or supplying CBD products in the UK. And it’s unlikely that they will in the near future, given the law’s lack of clarity.

Many observers have suggested that, if the Home Office were to follow through on enforcing the PSA in relation to CBD, they would fall at the first hurdle, forced to concede that, despite help from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, they have failed to provide a clear and workable definition of the substances they wish to ban.

So you can still purchase CBD products online and have them delivered to the UK without worrying about receiving a knock on your door from the police.

And, what’s more, the renowned CBD oil Charlotte’s Web, which is known to contain high amounts of CBD and low amounts of THC, has been available to purchase in the UK for almost 12 months without a single producer, supplier, or retailer (or, indeed, consumer) facing a legal challenge.

Do you live in the UK? What are your thoughts on the CBD UK laws? Tell us in the comments.

The post CBD UK Laws – Are Cannabidiol Products Legal in the UK? appeared first on Healthy Hemp Oil.

There are strict laws

For starters, UK laws consider cannabis a schedule one drug – an illegal plant that has no value. In fact, its possession, sale and use attract prison terms of between 5 and 14 years.

Only a few brands, such as Sativex®,are allowed for treating special cases of such diseases as multiple sclerosis and cancer.

However, even with this option, doctors are often not ready to prescribe it. The reason for this is that the law leaves all the risk at the doctor’s hand. If anything goes wrong following a prescription, the doctor has little legal support.

Only non-citizens visiting the UK are allowed to enter with CBD

For anyone visiting the UK, the good news is that you can enter with CBD oil as long as you do not share it with anyone and do not plan to stay for longer than 30 days.

British citizens, however, cannot visit other countries, get the CBD, and return home with it.

Nevertheless, with the proper cannabidiol UK paperwork, any British citizen taking cannabidiol in the UK can travel out of the country with it.

Lack of the right information is a barrier

Even with the small window for patients, access to information has stood in the way. This is made worse with gray areas in the law.

The majority of deserving patients do not know the options that are there for them or the channels to follow in order to get a prescription for CBD within accepted and legal means.

Some people turn to risky cannabidiol UK supply sources

Like in most countries, there are those who take advantage of this situation and supply products through illegal channels. Unfortunately, this exposes patients to products that have not gone through proper testing procedures.

Such products lack in effectiveness and pose a danger to the health of those who consume them. They are also often cover for scams.

Therefore, before you start a process of getting CBD in the UK, ensure that you have all the right information in regard to the current cannabidiol legal status and options that are there for you.

Are you a resident of the UK who at one time has sought to acquire CBD products? Share with us the challenges that you faced in that regard.

The post Challenges to Cannabidiol UK Access appeared first on Healthy Hemp Oil.

This puts families and individuals with medical conditions in need of the plant’s extractions and derivatives in a difficult situation.

So Is Marijuana Legal in Australia?

One story shared with us by a customer exposes the dilemma faced by many such people. It is not easy to access medical marijuana, especially if one does not want anything to do with underground suppliers and cartels.

Tara is an eight-year-old girl suffering from Dravet Syndrome, a severe epilepsy condition that affects kids and whose victims rarely reach their 10th birthdays. Tara’s parents Cheri and David O’Connell are a worried couple, because there is a likelihood that the supply of medical marijuana that report has kept their girl seizure-free for close to a year is going to stop soon.

Medical marijuana brought hope to them in their darkest moments. Tara was experiencing up to 200 seizures daily, and her doctors had warned that she was not likely to live past seven. However, a few days after putting her on marijuana medication, the family says everything changed for the better. Even Child Neurology doctor Lindsay Smith described her recovery as “nothing short of miraculous.”

The O’Connells are now able to take their girl out, something they only dreamed of before. She is even able to attend part-time school now. After these developments, they thought they had only her intellectual impairment to deal with, but it seems they were wrong.

The cause of their worries is the arrest of  Mr. Anthony David Bower, the one person who has been providing them with the medicinal marijuana for their daughter. Mr. Bower is not allowed to continue growing and supplying marijuana. This is despite the fact that he has been supplying families in need without asking for any payment.

With supplies to last them only a few months, the O’Connells are in despair, not knowing what to do next.

Ms. O’Connell said that, “If he’s jailed for two years, then that’s it: game over, Tara will die. I’m so angry. We can’t really make any plans anymore; we don’t know what the future holds.”

Before this turn of events, Mr. Bower’s Mulaways Medical Cannabis was the only registered medical marijuana establishment in Australia. He supplied the medication to hundreds of other families.

The hope and prayer of Ms. O’Connell’s family are that the Therapeutic Goods Administration will conduct medical trials to examine the effectiveness of the plant in treating conditions like Tara’s. This will unlock the necessary policy and legal change regarding cultivation, possession and use of marijuana, especially for medicinal use.

The post Is Marijuana Legal in Australia? appeared first on Healthy Hemp Oil.