Proposals for rules in Sweden receive sharp criticism from the hemp association
Swedish hemp stakeholders are pushing hard against proposed regulatory updates that would limit legal hemp components to only plant stems and seeds, and suggest that valuable plant tops be destroyed.
The draft rules, in a memorandum issued late last year by the Ministry of Social Affairs, were prompted by increased hemp-related workloads reported on a wide range of authorities, which cost the government money. Customs officials, police, medical agencies, food and safety and agricultural agencies said a legal gray area around hemp causes them headaches.
“Several Swedish authorities see a great need for a different system than the current one in order to deal with the prevailing legal uncertainty and the illogical legal consequences that it has entailed,” the ministry writes in the introduction to the memorandum.
Overkill
“The purpose of the proposal. . . is to prevent cannabis and products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from reaching the consumer level while growing hemp as an agricultural product, says the ministry.
But the proposed rules deal with overkill, which requires that end products do not even have trace amounts of THC that are common in hemp, which reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of European laws and international protocols that frame industrial hemp, says Mari Elfving, chairman of the Swedish Industrial Hemp Association (SIHA).
“The memorandum incorrectly assumes that hemp is first and foremost a medicine and not an important crop and bio-based material resource,” Elfving told HempToday.
SIHA answers
“EU-certified hemp with controlled low THC content is no longer covered by the international pharmaceutical conventions,” SIHA noted in a point-by-point response to the draft regulations. The World Health Organization’s recommendations and the EU’s legal development also establish a completely legal background for hemp products derived from all parts of plants that express less than 0.2% THC, the association observed.
“We are calling for an ordinance that presupposes that hemp is primarily a multifaceted, climate-friendly agricultural crop and raw material supply,” the association said in its response. Rules and policies should promote the production of biomass, fiber raw materials, oil, food and cosmetics by using the entire facility, SIHA urged.
At least four hectares
“Roots, stems, leaves, flowers and seeds have been used and consumed by humans in Europe and the rest of the world for thousands of years and at such a low level of THC the plant has no narcotic properties,” SIHA said in its response. “In view of this, the same limit should apply to products originating from registered farms in Sweden.”
SIHA also criticized a rule that would require individual growers to plant at least four hectares, a restriction that would discourage small-scale local producers and hinder research and development projects that are often carried out on small plots, the association said.
Important recommendations
In other proposed rule changes to the Swedish regulations for hemp, SIHA recommended:
- Hemp is treated as other crops in the handling, preparation and marketing of all parts of plants, which eliminates all other restrictions if cultivation has taken place in accordance with general rules for crops.
- Products that contain CBD and other cannabinoids that are to be sold as food or dietary supplements should be permitted as long as the marketing complies with the Swedish Consumer Agency’s, the Swedish Food Safety Authority’s and the Swedish Medicines Agency’s rules for nutrition and health claims.
- Hemp harvested by registered growers from certified seed should be legal regardless of whether the cultivation takes place on land with the right to agricultural support or not.
- Certificates of conformity at import should be available for all parts of the hemp plant including roots, stems, flowering tops and seeds.
- Requirements should be set for origin labeling and traceability of imported raw hemp and finished hemp products so that the consumer can make informed choices.
- Domestic hemp varieties developed by the Swedish Seed Association during the 1940s and 50s and which have been in stock at the Nordic Genetic Resource Center since 2003, should be investigated for their potential to produce native varieties that are suitable for growing in Sweden’s northern climate.
Hemp is barely registered in Swedish agriculture. Modern records dating to 2004 show that 150 hectares were under hemp that year. By 2007, the hemp fields had grown to 829 hectares, but then began to decline. In recent years, total annual fields of less than 200 hectares have been seen, with most hemp farms as small plots.