Cannabis light: first Cannabis Café opens in Ireland

Ireland may not have legalized the adult use of cannabis and only authorizes therapeutic use on a case-by-case basis, but it's also riding the wave of cannabis light.

Blooms Café, located in Waterford in the south of Ireland, is in fact the first business in Ireland to sell cannabis with a high CBD content (and low THC content, below the legal 0.2% in the finished product) in the form of dried flowers and infused in coffee.

Café customers are not allowed to smoke their infusions in the café, but can add hemp to any of the coffees on offer. The organic hemp used for the infusion is grown in Croatia, while the coffee is supplied by a local roaster.

«Varieties with high CBD content are ideal for those who want a relaxing and soothing experience, but don't want the psychotropic effects caused by THC, the compound found in illegal cannabis,» explains the café's Facebook page.

«CBD does not impair cognitive function, does not increase heart rate and is not toxic. It's proven not to be addictive, it's natural for our bodies and for every climate on the planet.»

«It's ideal for the ever-changing society we live in, and can be taken as aromatherapy or herbalism. It's a plant packed with beautiful flavonoids and terpenes like lavender or limonene.»

Blooms Café paves the way for future Irish businesses. In France, the proliferation of stores selling hemp flowers, falsely dubbed «coffeeshops» by journalists and politicians, has prompted the French government to take action. to search some twenty stores before and during the summer. The majority of these searches resulted in prosecutions for drug trafficking and incitement to drug use, even though the reported THC content of the dried flowers was below 0.2%.

In Switzerland, Italy, Belgium and now Ireland, stores selling CBD cannabis are left largely alone, as long as the CBD cannabis respects the legal THC limit (1% for Switzerland, 0.2% for the rest) and no therapeutic claims are made.

Blooms Café is located at 50 John Street in Waterford City and also delivers via its online platform. Blooms Buds.