Shortly

• Only natural cannabis products should be available to consumers on the regulated market.
• Synthetically produced, psychotropic cannabinoids should only be used in medical products or for scientific purposes.

Limitation to natural cannabis in a regulated market

The cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa L.) has been used for industrial, medicinal and recreational purposes for centuries. A precise and consistent definition is therefore essential for dealing with the plant and its products. It forms the core of any regulatory framework and creates clear guidelines for a market to be regulated.

The IG Hanf Schweiz expressly advocates that only natural cannabis should be made available to consumers in a regulated market. This includes plant material in its original form as well as extracts obtained directly from the plant. Synthetic cannabinoids, which are produced chemically, should only be permitted for scientific purposes and medical applications.

Justification for the restriction to natural cannabis

Synthetic cannabinoids are often highly potent and pose unpredictable risks that can place a heavy burden on both consumers and the healthcare system.[1] The restriction to natural cannabis not only serves to protect health, but also enables better quality control and traceability along the entire production chain. The demand for a restriction to natural cannabis is supported by findings from regulated markets.[2]

definition of natural cannabis[3]

The definition of cannabis should be restricted to natural cannabis and include all products that are extracted directly from the plant and do not contain completely synthetic cannabinoids. This clear demarcation creates transparency and minimizes the risks associated with the spread of synthetic substances. From the perspective of IG Hanf, the terms should be defined as follows.

Non-medical cannabis is cannabis that has grown in its natural form as a plant, regardless of the cultivation method (e.g. outdoor, greenhouse or indoor). This includes, among others, the following aspects:

• Cannabis in its natural composition (plant material including pollen, resin & trichomes);
• Cannabis from which the plant components have been removed (extracts / isolates / distillates).

Non-medical cannabis products are products for commercial use or for distribution to consumers that are made from non-medical cannabis.

Nicht under the term “Non-medical cannabis” or “non-medical cannabis products” include:

• medicinal cannabis
• fully synthetically produced individual chemical components of the cannabis plant (cannabinoids, terpenes, etc.) and their mixtures

Phytocannabinoids, synthetic cannabinoids and cannabinoid mimetics

Synthetic cannabinoids are cannabinoids that occur naturally in the cannabis plant, but are not extracted from the plant, but rather are produced via synthesis. A synthetically produced cannabinoid is not necessarily a bad thing, but on the contrary can have a higher degree of purity or other positive properties than an extracted, purified phytocannabinoid.

In the case of a synthetically produced cannabinoid, a cannabinoid that occurs naturally in the plant is artificially "recreated" in the laboratory without using any components or ingredients of the cannabis plant. Synthetic cannabinoids (e.g. synthetic CBD) are often used in the pharmaceutical industry because they guarantee a high-quality, pure and homogeneous product.

Cannabinoid mimetics or cannabinoid receptor mimetics are synthetically produced chemical substances that aim to act on the endocannabinoid system in the human nervous system. However, unlike phytocannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids, they do not occur naturally in the cannabis plant and therefore cannot be classified as cannabinoids in terms of chemical structure.

Limiting it to natural cannabis in a regulated market is essential!

In contrast to the tobacco plant, where there is only one active ingredient (nicotine), the hemp plant contains many cannabinoids with different mechanisms of action.

Synthetic cannabinoids and cannabinoid mimetics are:

• risky / unexplored;
• a big problem in the CBD market.

[1] See German Bundestag, page 10, Health risks of consuming cannabis and other drugs

[2] A report published in 2024 Your message The National Academies of Sciences in the USA recommends that Congress definition of "hemp" to clarifyto prevent the marketing of products containing potentially harmful synthetic cannabinoids.

[3] https://ighanf.ch/positionspapier-zur-schweizerischen-cannabisregulierung/