The European Parliament approved increasing industrial hemp's permitted THC level from 0.2% to 0.3%, a critical step in resetting the European threshold.
Long advocated by the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA), the measure was included in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform adopted by Parliament.
EIHA president Daniel Kruse called it a historic moment for the industry, farmers, a green future and all Europeans, saying the EU had finally restored a level playing field with the global industrial hemp sector.
A basis for negotiations
Parliament also voted to include hemp among products that could be regulated through marketing standards intended to improve agricultural product quality and economic production and marketing conditions.
These rules cover technical definitions, labeling, packaging, production substances and methods, and farming type and location.
Europe's THC history
Europe-specific industrial hemp limits were first set at 0.5% in 1984. They were later lowered to 0.3%, following a standard developed in the 1970s through the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT). American botanists Ernest Small and Arthur Cronquist's work used 0.3% THC to distinguish Cannabis sativa, described as hemp, from Cannabis indica, described as psychoactive cannabis.
In 1999, the EU reduced permitted THC to 0.2% in what the article describes as a misguided attempt to prevent high-THC cannabis from being grown within industrial hemp fields.
