Are CBD Cigarettes Legal In The UK? It Depends Where They’re From

It was only a matter of time.

CBD products were legalised in the UK in the late 2019s. Since then, a cornucopia of products including CBD oil, CBD capsules, CBD vapes, CBD edibles, and CBD topical products have appeared on shelves in dedicated shops, drugstores, and even gas stations. They’re easy to buy online, too.

Now, pre-rolled “CBD cigarettes” have appeared in Britain, although they’re actually hemp cigarettes. They’re made from the buds and leaves of hemp plants, which are rich in CBD and are used to create all of the other products we’ve mentioned. They’re essentially the same as pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes, except that they contain hemp instead of cannabis.

But are they really legal in the UK?

Yes — as long as they’re “finished products.” In other words, you can buy pre-rolled hemp cigarettes, but you can’t roll your own. Here’s why.

“CBD cigarettes” are manufactured by companies that have the right to create and sell CBD products, so they’re allowed to produce hemp cigarettes, too. British law, though, prohibits individuals from using (or selling) any part of the hemp plant except for its fibre and seeds, so you can’t legally buy hemp flower or smoke the cigarettes that you’d roll with it.

There’s one more interesting twist.

Most CBD products also contain small levels of psychoactive THC, the active ingredient in cannabis that gets users high. The THC in hemp and CBD products isn’t enough to make users intoxicated, but it does contribute to a so-called “entourage effect” that boosts CBD’s effectiveness.

CBD products are only legal for sale in the U.K. when the package contains less than one milligram of THC — and that means the entire package. Whether you buy a pack containing one CBD cigarette or a package of twenty, the total amount of THC in all of the cigarettes combined can’t top 1%.

Here’s what that means: the more cigarettes in the package, the less effective each one will be. You’ll still be getting the apparent benefits of CBD, but not necessarily at the same level.

Curious about CBD cigarettes and the weird British laws regulating them? Read on.

CBD and THC

Even though this article is about a CBD product, THC plays an important role in the discussion. So, let’s define both.

CBD (cannabidiol) and THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) are the two most important plant compounds called cannabinoids. They’re found in both cannabis and hemp plants but at different levels. Cannabis has lots of THC and very little CBD, while hemp contains lots of cannabidiol and very little THC.

Hemp’s bountiful CBD content is the primary reason why CBD products are sourced from hemp plants, and why CBD cigarettes are made with hemp. There’s another reason, too.

When cannabidiol is extracted from hemp, it’s accompanied by many of the plant’s other compounds, including THC. Since there’s so little THC in hemp, CBD doesn’t make users intoxicated. If CBD was extracted from cannabis plants, though, it could contain enough THC to make users high — and violate British law.

CBD’s legalisation came with an important caveat: the maximum amount of THC allowed in CBD products. The UK’s law is commonly described as limiting THC content to 0.2%, which is slightly lower than the 0.3% maximum in America and many other nations.

However, that’s not exactly what the law says; 0.2% is just an easy way to compare British limits to those of other countries. The law really says that there can be no more than one milligram of THC “per container.” That wording has a big effect on CBD cigarettes, and we’ll get to it shortly.

Both THC and CBD appear to provide a long list of medical benefits, at least as shown in preliminary research studies. Since cannabis is illegal in the UK, though, CBD products have flown off the shelves ever since they were legalised late in the 2010s. They’d be popular anyway, because they don’t impair users or cause serious side effects.

What Are CBD Cigarettes?

Tobacco cigarettes contain tobacco, and marijuana cigarettes contain marijuana. CBD cigarettes, though, contain hemp. That’s not as confusing as it might sound.

People smoke plant material to consume substances the plants contain. They smoke tobacco cigarettes to put nicotine into their bodies, and they smoke marijuana cigarettes (only where they’re legal, of course) to put THC into their bodies. CBD is a substance that users want to put into their bodies, and hemp is the plant that contains CBD — so they smoke hemp, not CBD.

CBD products are a big deal these days, though, so many companies describe their products as CBD cigarettes to attract more consumers.

There are usually no additives in hemp cigarettes, just the processed flowers and leaves of the hemp plant. Since they don’t contain marijuana (and hemp has negligible THC content), they don’t provide any psychoactive effects. And since they don’t contain tobacco, they don’t contain any of the nicotine or additives found in traditional cigarettes.

In short, hemp cigarettes appear to be safer than tobacco ones. A 2021 study did find they contain some of the same byproducts, but preliminary evidence shows that tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and 60 known cancer-causing agents, but hemp smoke contains only half that number of chemicals and no carcinogens have been documented.

All smoke created by burning plant material can hurt the lungs to some degree, but one study concluded that hemp smoke is less harmful than tobacco and potentially marijuana smoke; those findings haven’t been replicated by other researchers yet. As for CBD, it’s non-addicting and doesn’t cause any serious side effects, but it might interact with some medications.

Now, let’s get to the legality of hemp cigarettes in the UK.

Are CBD Cigarettes Legal?

In most Western nations, yes. But as is often the case, Britain is an outlier; hemp cigarettes are legal, but only in some cases.

CBD was illegal in the UK until 2019 because it was regulated by the same laws as cannabis. As most readers know, marijuana and other cannabis products remain illegal unless they’re prescribed by a specialist for very specific health issues. The laws had to be changed to exempt CBD, and it wasn’t until January 2019 that it was redesignated as a “novel food.”

British laws governing CBD growers, producers, sellers, and users continue to evolve, and the vagaries that make the UK legal landscape difficult to navigate may eventually be changed. Here’s where they stand as of this writing, though.

• CBD products are legal for sale and use as long as they contain less than one milligram of THC “per container.” In the usual shorthand for legal THC content, that’s approximately equal to 0.2% THC, compared to 0.3% in the US and most EU nations. However, the “per container” wording can be tricky.
• The parts of the hemp plant that contain CBD, the flowers and leaves, are considered a controlled substance (just like cannabis) in Britain. Hemp can only be grown for its seeds and fibre with an “industrial hemp licence.” Growing it for its flowers and leaves requires a cannabis cultivation licence, and those aren’t easy to get. In short, you can’t grow your own hemp without breaking the law.
• Selling and using hemp flower and leaves is currently illegal in the UK, and you can’t import it without a licence. That means it’s not only illegal to buy hemp flower to use for its CBD, but it’s also illegal to roll hemp into a cigarette in Britain unless you’re an approved CBD product manufacturer. Only hemp seeds can be purchased by individuals, and they contain no cannabidiol.

That leaves people who want to smoke CBD cigarettes with only one legal option. They have to purchase pre-rolled hemp cigarettes that have been made by an approved CBD product manufacturer. Hemp cigarettes created and sold by reputable producers should deliver the same apparent benefits as CBD oil, although the levels will vary by product and manufacturer.

Finally, we have good news and bad news.

First, the good. The cannabidiol in hemp smoke takes effect more quickly and is more effective than the CBD in edibles or capsules, since it’s absorbed directly by the lung tissues without having to go through the digestive process. It works about the same way as the cannabidiol in CBD vapes and CBD oil dropped under the tongue.

The bad news isn’t really all bad, it’s just something to watch out for. CBD cigarettes sold in big packs probably won’t deliver the same level of supposed benefits as those sold in small ones.

Why? The “one milligram per container” law we’ve mentioned means there can only be one milligram of THC in an entire package. Hemp cigarettes sold together in a large package will each contain less THC than ones that are sold individually or in a small package — meaning they’ll each have less of an entourage effect and will be less effective.

More and more UK CBD shops and online outlets are selling pre-rolled hemp cigarettes, even though tobacco smoking rates continue to fall. It remains to be seen if CBD cigarettes will become a widely accepted method of consumption or if it’s just a passing fad, but as long as you stick with purchased pre-rolled hemp cigarettes, you won’t be doing anything illegal.

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