Please sign our petition (here)
Switzerland has one of the most advanced cannabis industries in Europe and Italy and Austria are going through a modern day gold rush. All due to the relaxed laws of cannabis. Thousands of jobs have been created across numerous industries including farming, retail and research.
Medical cannabis is expected to be worth €123bn by 2028 in Europe, thats £107bn - an industry equaling the size of the UK's construction, wholesale & retail all together.
The outlook in Britain is bleak at best. The pound has depreciated in value, and in the past decade inflation has increased more than the average wage resulting in a reduction in disposable income and purchasing power. Home ownership is at a 30 year low and housing has become unaffordable for new generations.
"Government data reveals that the private rented sector has doubled in size since 2004, with almost half of all people in England aged 25 to 34 paying a private landlord for their accommodation." [
The Guardian, 2017]
With Brexit negotiations ongoing, we are at risk of losing our status as a world power and we need to revive our economy.
England is in desperate need to be at the forefront of the cannabis industry and for our economy to flourish we need to allow young entrepreneurs to innovate. In order to take advantage of the industries potential, we must provide clear guidelines for them to follow.
With the recent discovery of the human endocannabinoid system, it is now beyond the point of reason to turn a blind eye to the health & wellbeing benefits of Cannabis.
For illegal street products, THC-heavy ratios within Cannabis are on the rise, and CBD & other cannabinoid levels are dramatically decreasing, it's damaging the mental health of our population. Street Cannabis has been found with up to 29% THC or even worse is often sprayed with synthetic THC.
A study conducted by King's college London found the rising strength of illegal street products are linked to the rising rates of treatment to cannabis related problems. These higher doses of THC cause health effects, such as memory impairment and psychosis.
The NHS has released a study which confirms THC levels are on the rise, CBD levels are decreasing and confirm that THC heavy ratios are damaging to consumers mental health. The article describes CBD as "The protective agent" when discussing the THC levels found in 'skunk' on the street. [
nhs.uk, 2018]
The answer is making more of what Europeans are touting as 'Cannabis Light' or what is known as CBD Weed or Hemp Flowers, in the UK, more readily available.
CBD flowers don't have any psychoactive effect as the THC content is limited. In the UK this limit is at 0.2% and although I can't tout the benefits to you, you can find some of our public reviews of our customers on our site: We've had customers praise our products as a helpful alternative to the harm they have brought on themselves with "street weed".
Before the worries begin about the social impact of further legalising Hemp Flowers, it should be noted that the Netherlands doesn't consume more cannabis than other countries and legalisation didn't accelerate consumption. So far the Netherlands economy has substantially gained from cannabis tourism.
The state of the CBD Flower market in the UK
The CBD Flower market in the UK sits within a legally restrictive area and it creates problems for the consumer. In order to be considered legal, the THC content of the Hemp Flowers needs to be below 0.2%, needs to come from an industrial hemp strain, the flowers need to be 'processed' and they must be sold as "not for consumption".
Due to the legal "processing" requirement and the need to reduce THC below 0.2%, farmers must process the flowers using one of many methods. These methods reduce THC and CBD and almost completely remove the other cannabinoids and as a result, a CBD content is restrained to approximately 5%.
There is no transparency in the current marketplace, and this leads to consumers being lied to about the content of what they are buying. As an example, customers are being sold Hemp Flowers with 20-25% CBD while in reality they receive ~2-3%.
A CBD content of over 5% is virtually impossible whilst staying below the 0.2% THC threshold in approved hemp strains.
Retailers are either purposely lying to their customers in order to gain competitive advantage or they themselves are being lied to by the producers and either way, consumers have no way of knowing what they are buying or whether it's legal.
CBD levels of 20-25% are possible if we increase the THC level ever so sightly. Switzerland allows 1% THC which is still modest enough not to cause a psychoactive effect but allows the plant to develop higher levels of other cannabinoids. CBD is just the beginning, there are 113 other cannabinoids found in these flowers, each with different properties and benefits which need to be researched further - the UK could be at the forefront of this research.
The other side of the industry problem is for the retailers, the current law doesn't give companies like ours the ability to invest properly to develop our products. We are unable to advertise and along with our partners, we are under constant threat of merchandise being seized and consequently results in higher prices for the end consumer.
We at The Good Budz, maintain our vision of bringing more transparency and accessibility to the cannabis industry. We envision being the 'Amazon' of cannabis, allowing full terpene and cannabinoid profiling and databases on each and every product. We are pushing boundaries and perception and as a result are under the risk of being closed down at the snap of a finger.
Unfortunately, we are considering a move to another EU country where regulation is more relaxed in order to follow our vision, but we wanted to reach out and attempt not to jump the sinking ship, and instead write this article in an attempt to rebuild us as a country.
While this may seem like the rambling of a socialist - in reality our founding team consists of a mixture of political beliefs. While our political opinions differ, we are unified and aim to bring the best to the UK through our organisation and it's mission. Something our current politicians could take an example of.
We at The Good Budz believe so passionately about our innovation and ensuring progress of the UK that we have set out the goal to donate 10% of our earnings to change the regulation.
As such, we made a petition requesting the government give us clear legal guidance and relax our regulation. We should look at Switzerland as an example and allow hemp with up to 1% THC content.
Please sign our petition (here)
Allow us as consumers to make informed decisions, allow our entrepreneurs to innovate and allow this industry to exist and flourish.
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