2023-06-12 15:40:47
Currently on free sale in France, products based on hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) – a molecule derived from cannabis – will be banned in the territory from Tuesday June 13. This decision by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) follows work that showed that HHC “presents a risk of abuse and dependence equivalent to that of cannabis”, according to a press release.
“We have decided to register hexahydrocannabinol [HHC] and two of its derivatives, HHC-acetate [HHCO] et l’hexahydroxycannabiphorol [HHCP] on the list of narcotics. Thus, their production, sale and use in particular are prohibited in France from June 13, 2023.said the ANSM.
The Minister of Health François Braun had announced less than a month ago their upcoming ban. “As of tomorrow, the consumption and sale of HHC will be prohibited. My ministry is mobilized to protect the health of French people and fight against addictions., he tweeted. Some European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark and the United Kingdom) have recently banned it.
“A structure close to that of a narcotic”
Appearing on the drug market in the United States at the end of 2021, HHC was spotted for the first time in Europe in May 2022, during a seizure by customs officers, traces the observatory. Eight months later, it had been identified in more than 70% of member countries of the European Union. Since the first identification of HHC in Europe, two other synthetic cannabis have been detected on the continent: HHC-acetate (HHCO) and hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHCP).
The ANSM thus based its decision on the work of the evaluation and information centers on pharmacodependency-addictovigilance. These works showed that “the chemical structure of these products is close to that of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol [delta-9 THC]classified as narcotic”according to the ANSM.
The molecule has been known to scientists for a long time but, for several months, the health authorities of different countries – Europe and the United States – have noticed that it is increasingly marketed on the Internet or in physical stores. Its effects are poorly known, but addictologists tend to consider them comparable to those of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the substance at the heart of the psychoactive effects of cannabis.
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