Hong Kong, China – Like most people in Hong Kong, Cheryl found herself spending a lot of time in a small apartment when COVID-19 first hit the city in early 2020.
Before long, the 23-year-old media worker was overwhelmed by anxiety and depression.
“I didn’t have face-to-face classes at the time, and it was easy to have anxious thoughts when you stayed at home a lot,” Cheryl, who asked to be referred to only by her first name, told Al Jazeera.
After learning about cannabidiol (CBD) during a college research project, Cheryl ordered a tincture from an online store that sells products with health benefits such as reducing anxiety and Stress.
“I started using CBD tincture,” he said. “My thoughts were like waves crashing over me, but suddenly it calmed down.”
CBD is a compound found in cannabis that does not contain THC, the psychoactive ingredient responsible for the drug’s high.
In Hong Kong, CBD has been sold legally in the form of oils, tinctures and food and drinks amid a proliferation of related businesses in recent years.
Cheryl is now a regular CBD user, spending several hundred dollars each month on products to improve her mood.
CBD users like Cheryl, however, will soon be forced to find other outlets for their stress, as the Chinese-ruled city wants to ban the compound as early as this year.
CBD is sold legally in Hong Kong in the form of oils, tinctures, and food and beverages [Courtesy of Altum International]
In June, the government of Hong Kong, which is nominally semi-autonomous from mainland China under a system known as “one country, two systems,” introduced a bill to ban the manufacture, import, export, sale and possession of products CBD. .
The bill comes after Beijing announced a ban on cosmetics containing CBD last year.
After an election review decreed by Beijing last year effectively eliminated all political opposition in Hong Kong’s legislature, there is little chance the bill will fail to become law.
Hong Kong officials have argued that CBD can break down into THC under “normal storage conditions” and could become a gateway for young people to take illegal drugs.
Authorities also say more than a third of the 4,000 CBD samples tested contained traces of THC.
Meanwhile, officials say illegal drug use is becoming more common in the city.
The number of known cannabis users in Hong Kong grew by a third between 2020 and 2021, and the number of under-21s increased by almost 50 percent, according to police statistics.
Hong Kong has strict anti-drug laws, with sentences of up to seven years in prison for possession and life in prison for manufacturing and trafficking.
Business Removal
In addition to putting consumers on notice, Hong Kong’s proposed ban, which would give anyone in possession of CBD three months to dispose of the product, has sounded the death knell for the once thriving CBD business ecosystem he was prosperous from the city.
After making headlines with its launch in 2020, the city’s first CBD cafe, Found, now plans to close up shop in October.
“Unfortunately, the proposed ban would result in the closure of the retail store and the cafe,” Fiachra Mullen, marketing director of Altum International, which owns Found, told Al Jazeera.
“Altum will focus on our other core markets of Australia and New Zealand.”
Mr Mullen said the cafe had met strong demand in Hong Kong, with business increasing 20-fold since opening.
The Morgan office first tried CBD when it started to take off in popularity in 2020.
“I used to put CBD drops in my drinks. After that, I started using a CBD vaporizer to replace my bad nicotine habits… I felt calm and my anxiety was relieved,” he Morgan, who asked that only her first name be used, told Al Jazeera.
Morgan said that although she is no longer a frequent user of CBD, she does not understand the rationale behind the ban.
“Why take away something that helps people feel better emotionally and mentally?”
CBD business owners say the government’s claims about their products are off the mark and insist they can guarantee anything they sell is THC-free.
“I send the raw materials [of my CBD products] in the UK and Japan for full control, and my products are 100% THC-free,” David Lau, an online seller of CBD products, told Al Jazeera.
Lau started his business after his friend reported that CBD had relieved his depression and anxiety. He started selling CBD vape cartridges, but switched to CBD oil and gummies after the government banned vaping products. Before the ban was announced, Lau had hoped to open a brick-and-mortar store, but is now considering moving his business elsewhere.
Mullen, Found’s marketer, said his company could “effectively guarantee a completely THC-free product at the point of production, as there is no cannabis or hemp involved in the production process.”
Experts say more research is needed to examine the effects of CBD products [Courtesy of Altum International]
Although several studies have suggested that CBD may help with mental health conditions such as anxiety, experts say more research is needed to examine its effects.
Fung Sai-fu, an instructor in the department of social and behavioral sciences at the City University of Hong Kong, said there is no evidence for the supposed benefits of CBD.
“For research and medical use, the current proposed ban on CBD will not affect research related to cannabis compounds and the pharmaceutical use of CBD. But for the consumer or recreational use of cannabidiol, it will not there is clear scientific evidence to support CBD with its advertised health benefits,” Fung told Al Jazeera.
Fung also said that some studies have shown that CBD users experience side effects, such as sleep problems.
“Some medical experts also warned that CBD can interfere with the working of other medicines and can be contaminated,” he said.
For CBD users like Cheryl, arguments about potential risks or side effects hold little water.
“This [the proposed ban] it makes no sense… After growing up we should be able to make our own decisions,” he said. “Why aren’t cigarettes banned, but CBD? If they want to ban CBD, they should also ban cigarettes.”
