In Germany, CBD flower sellers go to jail

A country can certainly be legalizing cannabis and punish the trade in hemp flowers at the same time.

The German Federal Court of Justice thus rejected the appeals of two defendants against a Berlin judgment sentencing them to prison, notably for trafficking CBD flowers. The judgment was motivated by the fact that cooking CBD flowers could potentially release THC and thus an intoxicating effect, the flowers then falling under the narcotics law.

This is not the first time that’Germany Cracks Down on CBD Shops.

The Berlin Regional Court sentenced one of the defendants, among other things, for organized drug trafficking in a significant quantity in two cases, and the other for complicity in this trafficking, to a total prison sentence of three years and nine months for the first and ten months for the second, the execution of which was suspended.

According to the findings of the regional court, the main defendant purchased 60 kg of hemp flowers with a high proportion of cannabidiol (CBD) in September and October 2019. He resold the CBD flowers at a profit to wholesalers, who in turn sold them to CBD stores.

The comprehensive review of the judgment, conducted following the appeal on the merits, classified CBD flowers as narcotics within the meaning of Schedule I of the German Narcotics Act (BtMG). However, the flowers did indeed comply with the active ingredient limit of 0.2% THC THC.

But the court ruled that the abuse of CBD flowers for intoxication purposes could not be ruled out. Indeed, according to the court, which did not call upon any expert to verify whether this was the case, if the flowers were heated, for example during cooking, this led to the release of an uncertain amount of THC, which could cause a cannabis intoxication when consumed by the end consumer. The main defendant declared himself aware of this, which may explain part of the verdict.

Given the possibility of misuse of CBD flowers for intoxication purposes, «dangerous for health,» the 5th Criminal Chamber of the Federal Court of Justice based in Leipzig ruled that the trade of CBD flowers violates the «constitutional prohibition of intoxication.».

The press release The court's press service ultimately clarifies that «the judgment of the Berlin Regional Court is therefore final.».

The Berlin-based startup Bunte Blume, which sold cookies made with hemp flowers, had been acquitted in 2020 after being accused of organized drug trafficking. The court had ruled that the company's founders «could not have known the intoxicating effect of homemade brownies.».