Singapore withdraws snacks containing hemp flour from sale

Singapore's Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has decided to remove a snack containing hemp flour from the city-state's vending machines.

The CNB ordered the company providing the Piranha Power Pack to remove it from vending machines and warned anyone who bought the snack to get rid of it immediately.

The product is said to contain nuts, seeds and chips and is suspected of also containing hemp seed flour.

«Did you know that Cannabis Sativa is the botanical name for the hemp plant? You read that right: hemp is cannabis,» notes a CNB Facebook post. «This means that all hemp proteins, fibers, seeds, oils... that are derived from the hemp plant are derived from the Cannabis Sativa plant.»

Singapore has a zero-tolerance approach to drug-related offences, among the toughest in the world. Any use of cannabis in the country is banned, although since 2019 at least two little girls have been allowed to import Epidiolex, a pharmaceutical CBD oil, to treat their epilepsy.

The CNB points out that «despite product labels to the contrary, any product derived from the cannabis sativa plant or its seeds may contain controlled drugs such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive chemical in cannabis that gives users the sensation of «getting high»».

While not specifically targeting the snack in question, the NBC reports that «numerous reports have cited adverse health effects associated» with THC consumption.

That said, the agency «wishes to remind importers, retailers and members of the public that any product containing hemp derivatives should not be imported, supplied or offered for sale, etc.».

«The CNB has asked the company that imported the product to withdraw it from sale. The investigations conducted by the CNB are ongoing», reports the agency.