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Legal status of cannabis and CBD in US states and Europe

Delivered August 14, 2019. Contributor: Megan B.

Goals

To find the legal status of cannabis products and specifically CBD, by state and European country.

Early Findings

  • CBD from hemp is technically legal in all 50 states, thanks to the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill. HempPureCBD has an easy-to-read map regarding each states' "friendliness" towards industrial hemp-derived products like CBD. Idaho, Nebraska and South Dakota have attempted to circumvent federal law and have explicitly banned all CBD.
  • Marijuana-derived CBD is governed under different legal terms. It is not legally federally. Here are the states where it is legal due to the allowance of recreational marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.
  •  Medically-prescribed CBD from cannabis is also legal in states allowing medical marijuana: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and West Virginia. Furthermore, these states also allow cannabis-derived CBD under prescription, but with pretty strict conditions (usually has to contain 0.3% or less THC): Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
  • The EU's official position on CBD is that food products are allowed if 0.2% THC or less (effectively limiting to only hemp-derived CBD) and cosmetics containing CBD are allowed if the fruiting tops of the plant were not used.
  •  Hempika has a map including all countries of the world and whether cannabis and hemp-derived CBD are legal or not. Countries where cannabis-derived CBD is officially not illegal are: Ireland, UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland, France, Denmark, Spain, Belgium and Portugal. Generally, CBD containing less than 0.2% is decriminalized, so while not explicitly legal, it is also not illegal. However, like stated above, the upper THC limit of 0.2% basically restricts CBD to hemp-derived only.
  • However, Italian courts recently ruled that cannabis-derived CBD was illegal.

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