The first CBD café in Hong Kong has opened it’s doors despite the territory’s stringent laws that ban cannabis in that location.
The first cannabis affiliated café in HK
CBD Café in Hong Kong is the first food and drink outlet in Hong Kong that offers a variety of coffee, biscuits, beer, and fruit juices laced with cannabidiol (CBD). Cannabidiol (CBD) is a compound found in the cannabis plant. It’s said to have therapeutic properties with no intoxicating effects. The café has avoided the laws that ban cannabis because none of its products contains THC—the psychoactive element that makes a user ‘high.’
Hong Kong is actually one of Asia’s most progressive cannabinoid markets. Unlike other parts in the region- Australia, New Zealand, Singapore – it’s actually quite a progressive cannabinoid law in Hong Kong, so we can sell most Cannabinoids in Hong Kong as foods as long as we don’t have any THC in the products, said Fiachra Mullen, co-founder of Altum Asia Limited, which was responsible for setting up the café.
Hong Kong considers CBD legal only if it has zero percent trace of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol). All the same, the CBD-laced food and drink on offer are not cheap. Buyers will have to part with HK$80 (around £8) for a bottle of cold CBD-infused coffee at Found Café. Similarly, a can of CBD beer goes for HK$70, which is around £7, while a piece of CBD-infused mooncake goes for HK$38, which is around £3.80.
Only packaged products
Currently, Found Café is not authorized to sell freshly made food and drink products. It only deals in packaged products. However, the outlet plans to be operational with other products in October. Under the current Hong Kong law, CBD is not considered a dangerous drug. However, it remains illegal in several countries around the world.
In the UK, CBD is legal provided it meets the standards of the Exempted Product Criteria in Regulation 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001. According to the Food Standards Agency, CBD extracts are being sold in food as well as food supplements in the UK. While they are “widely available,” vendors need to obtain a Novel Food Authorization before they can sell.
This development comes just comes at a time when medical experts in the UK are saying it’s time to embrace CBD for medicinal use. According to research published in the journal BMJ Open, researchers called for a change of attitude towards cannabis products, especially when it comes to medicinal use.
Researchers discovered that hundreds of thousands of UK patients were using illegal cannabis-based products for self-medication. This is because many medical and pharmacy professions have not embraced and prescribed legal cannabis-based products for their patients.
