Experts from the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI) and the Centre for Medicinal Cannabis (CMC) have compiled a ‘detailed safety review paper’ on THC and outlined policy recommendations on safety limits.
To address ‘the UK regulatory anomalies’, the ACI and CMC report – Health Guidance Levels for THC in CBD products: Safety Assessment & Regulatory Recommendations – recommends a THC safety limit of 0.03% or 21μg a day, based on independent evaluation of available data.
In finished products, it recommends any product containing levels of THC and other controlled cannabinoids below 0.03% be classed as ‘zero THC’ and ‘not subject to any restrictions of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations’.
“We recommend that the proposed safety limit of 0.03% accounts for the total controlled cannabinoid limit in CBD food and consumer products (including other THCs and CBN, which are less common and potent than Δ9THC). This level of THC is highly unlikely to produce a positive THC drug test.”
Products containing between 0.02% and 0.03% should, it says, be classified under Schedule 5 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations Act 2001, making them ‘lawfully available for over-the-counter supply in the UK’.
“We fully understand that tackling drug misuse … is a top priority for the UK Government,” says Dr Parveen Bhatarah, regulatory and compliance associate, ACI and CMC. “This paper has taken into account the analytical challenges, testing methodology challenges and existing scientific evidence-based data to propose the safe limit for controlled cannabinoids. This approach can overcome the challenges the CBD industry is currently facing which is important for the sustainability of the industry.”
