29 December 2018
Loren W
Melbourne Australia
It is ironic that one of the biggest problems facing Cannabis law reform in Australia is people thinking it is already legal for medical use and not knowing that most if not ALL legal medical Cannabis is CBD sourced from hemp not Cannabis.
Mission accomplished, trouble is the hemp food industry has a problem in that too many think hemp is Cannabis. Which is it ?
Hemp vs Cannabis vs CBD
To fulfill campaign promises Australia made in 2014, medical Cannabis was made legal in 2016. To prevent access to Real Cannabis, they redefined Cannabis in Australia to allow it to include hemp and other things and prevent licenses of REAL Cannabis except for research and export.
Hemp and Cannabis (accidentally it is believed now) share a plant naming (botanical genus) of Cannabis Sativa L. – The United Nations defines Cannabis as 10% or higher THC and low CBD – Hemp is low THC <1% but can be high or low CBD also. CBD is one of 110+ cannabinoids and 400 other elements in Cannabis and some hemp. CBD tends to be higher potency in new GMO hemp patents / strains. To market legal medical Cannabis many states and countries like Australia have defined “medical Cannabis” to include other things like hemp, and isolated CBD also from hemp.
The natural relationship of THC to CBD appears to be in a ratio 10-15:1 THC:CBD – This is why products like FECO & RSO (Full extract cannabis oil and rick simpson oil) were created. Increase the potency / concentration of Cannabis’s THC thus increasing the potency of CBD.
Many experts now disagree of the benefit of hemp from CBD, if REAL Cannabis is available, the pharma industry disagrees and a preferred CBD/hemp as it is marketable and patentable it their way.
In a mature market like Canada and the USA, CBD is seen as the next big thing complementing rather than replacing Cannabis. In Australia, in 2016 legal Cannabis for medical use excludes REAL Cannabis.
This is a model we are seeing globally, with New Zealand, Thailand, and S Korea, legalising medical Cannabis that only includes hemp sourced pharma CBD in late 2018 – Israel even announced they will begin exporting legal medical Cannabis that unfortunately means only hemp / pharma sourced CBD.
In late 2018 the Australian government in protest to a new Cannabis bill stated, “There have been 1370 scripts for legal medical cannabis since 2016” ignoring NONE Of those were for real Cannabis only Hemp/Pharma sourced CBD.
With the hemp food industry moving ahead, like the black market for illegal CBD, illegal hemp food products are also making their way into the food chain, and we continue to see recalls of hemp, and cbd products form all over the world.
No Wonder The Public is Confused?
1) All legal Medical Cannabis is hemp or hemp sourced Pharma CBD in Australia – But the government likes to pretend hemp and cannabis are the same so the so is CBD/ hemp is also Medical Cannabis in media va the Government and all those supporting pharma Cannabis in Australia.
2) All hemp food if legal has no THC and is not Cannabis
3) Some Australia hemp food products have been contaminated and recalled
Now What ?
Into early 2019 with Australia still greatly limiting access to hemp pharma cbd / (Australia’s Medical Cannabis) it means folks are less aware that the legal medical Cannabis in Australia is crap and not Cannabis as few have access. New laws are pending to legalise REAL Cannabis in ACT, & NSW this will help clarify it. Those supporting or wanting to support law reform are always welcome.
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