World Health Organization Recommends Loosening CBD Restrictions

A new report from the World Health Organization Expert Committee on Drug Dependence (ECDD) has clarified the organization’s stance on CBD, recommending significant changes that would relax international restrictions on CBD.

The report has not been made public, but a copy of the recommendations was obtained and reviewed by MJBizDaily. Member states of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) have received the recommendations, which they were supposed to receive last December. The CND was expected to consider rescheduling CBD and cannabis at their annual meeting next month, but the delay in receiving the ECDD report could potentially force that assessment to be pushed back to next year.

The recommendations include removing pure CBD and CBD preparations containing no more than 0.2% THC from the three main United Nations international drug control conventions. These conventions were created to prohibit the supply and production of certain substances thought to have a high potential for misuse and abuse, with the exception of specific purposes such as research and medical treatment.

In explaining their recommendation, the ECDD noted that “cannabidiol is found in cannabis and cannabis resin, but does not have psychoactive properties and has no potential for abuse and no potential to produce dependence. It does not have significant ill-effects. Cannabidiol has been shown to be effective in the management of certain treatment-resistant, childhood-onset epilepsy disorders. It was approved for this use in the United States in 2018 and is currently under consideration for approval by the European Union.”

The ECDD’s assessment of CBD is similar to their recommendations that were made public after their conference last June in Geneva, Switzerland. Their findings included that “there are no case reports of abuse or dependence relating to the use of pure CBD,” that “no public health problems have been associated with CBD use,” and that “CBD has been found to be generally well-tolerated with a good safety profile.”