Products containing HHC, a molecule derived from cannabis but currently sold over the counter in France, will be banned in France from Tuesday.
HHC products, sold in the form of dried flowers, oils, resins or vaping liquids, can be ingested, smoked or inhaled.
They've become popular in France as a legal version of cannabis, available online and in a growing number of shops selling CBD products.
But as from Tuesday 13 June, HHC will be classified as a drug and sales banned.
The decision is based on research showing that HHC "presents the same risk of abuse and dependence as cannabis", said the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) on Monday.
"We have decided to add hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) and two of its derivatives – HHC-acetate (HHCO) and hexahydroxycannabiphorol (HHCP) – to the list of narcotic substances. As a result, their production, sale and use, in particular, will be banned in France from 13 June 2023", ANSM announced in a statement.
On 15 May, Health Minister François Braun announced his intention "to ban the consumption and sale of HHC".
"My ministry is mobilised to protect the health of French people and fight against addiction", he tweeted.
France joins Austria, Belgium, Denmark and the UK in banning the substance, while seven other EU countries have taken measures this year to control it.
Rapid spread
HHC appeared on the drug market in the United States at the end of 2021, and was first spotted in Europe in May 2022, when it was seized by customs officers, ANSM said.
Eight months later, it had been identified in more than 70 percent of EU member countries.
Since HHC was first identified in Europe, two other synthetic cannabis products have been detected on the continent: HHC-acetate (HHCO) and hexahydrocannabiphorol (HHCP).
The ban comes just weeks after the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) published a report on the substance, warning it had been identified in 20 EU member states and Norway, but not controlled in most of them.
ANSM based its decision on work carried out by drug dependence-addictovigilance assessment and information centres.
The research showed that "the chemical structure of these products is close to that of delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9 THC), classified as a narcotic", according to ANSM.
Scientists have known about the molecule for a long time, but in recent months, health authorities in various countries – Europe and the United States – have noted that it is increasingly being sold online or in shops.
There's a lack of peer-reviewed research on the effect HHC has on the body, though the EMCDDA said that based on a small number of laboratory studies, it appears to have "broadly similar effects to THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis.
