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Irish CBD industry: “It’s like you are constantly looking over your shoulder”

As Irish CBD business owners struggle with raids and seizures, Cannabis Wealth speaks to one owner fighting back.

Cannabis Wealth speaks to Jim Weathers, the owner of Puff ‘n’ Stuff who was one of the first Irish stores to experience raids.

Jim faces a life sentence if convicted of selling CBD flower in his Youghal based store. Gardai seized about 2kgs of product, worth just over €2,000.

It’s been a difficult time for CBD stores in Ireland. While there has been Covid and Brexit to contend with, Irish CBD sellers have also experienced raids on their stores by an Garda Síochána. The stores are adamant they sell CBD with a THC content well within the European legal limit. This has not stopped the gardai from entering their stores and seizing products.

As a result, there are a number of stores bringing court cases against the state. Store owners are angry at the disruption to their business while their families and staff have suffered from the pressure of the pending cases or threat of raids.

Cork-based Puff ‘n’ Stuff has been in business for just over six years. It originally started as a clothing store before moving into the CBD space. Jim and his wife opened the store together and began researching to find a reputable CBD brand they could sell.

“I found a supplier in Slovakia who was selling ground hemp so I decided to start bringing it in to sell as tea. It dawned on me that this was doing very well and people were starting to get positive reports from consuming it. Especially our older customers who were having positive results with their arthritis,” Jim said.

He added: “I thought people might like to smoke this so we started to sell pre-rolled hemp joints in 2017. They were flying off the shelves but it wasn’t really about making money as I wanted to see what the market was like. I realised we were on to something.”

CBD oil: A bottle of Irish CBD oil with a close up of a dropper above the bottle

Irish CBD industry

The couple added multiple CBD products and the hemp roll-ups to their store as different options for customers. However, at that time there was still confusion over the legality of CBD. Ireland follows European laws that state Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels must be under 0.2 per cent.

Conscious that the public and gardai may not understand that there were was no THC in the roll-ups, Jim insisted on an age restriction for certain products. This meant no sales to anyone under 25.

“Unfortunately, someone in my shop sold it to someone they shouldn’t have. There was an age limit of 25 in place because we were trying to prevent problems like this with younger customers,” Jim explained.

CBD flower and THC-rich cannabis look identical at a glance. They are the same plant but with different dominant cannabinoids. The only way to confirm what cannabinoids are in the plant is to commission a lab test. With this in mind, Jim reached out to gardai to invite them into the store to see what he was selling and to learn about CBD or THC products.

He said: “I did my due diligence in that I did a lot of research to find documents that confirm the substance was legal according to European law. I even called the gardai in to show them what I was selling. They did say that if they stop someone then they couldn’t tell the difference so that person will likely be done for possession of cannabis.”

Unfortunately, the sale of a hemp roll-up to a 19- year-old customer kick-started the raids on Puff ‘n’ Stuff. As the customer was stopped by gardai, the roll-up was in distinct packaging so there was no doubt as to where it had been bought. The store was raided shortly and Jim was formally arrested a few months later.

“The following day, the drug squad came in. I wasn’t there but my wife was there at the time. They asked if they could take samples of the different varieties we had. They took a sample of everything and left. Seven months later, they came back in with a search warrant, raided the premises and seized every single product that was there.”

Six months later, Jim’s wife was also arrested after the gardai discovered the business was hers. In January 2020, the couple filed a judicial review to have the high court decide if they should be prosecuted further or if charges should be dropped. At the same time, Little Collins also filed their own review for similar charges. Both cases have been run in conjunction with each other ever since.

In all of the interviews featured on Cannabis Wealth, each of the store owners spoke of the strain on their mental health as a result of the ongoing court battles. Jim confirms that he feels as if something could happen every day.

“This has been a hell of a thing to be living with. How my wife is still functioning is beyond me. We have the stress of always wondering if they are following us or if they are coming to the house today? It’s like you are constantly looking over your shoulder. You worry what is going to happen depending on the outcome of the case.”

The outcome of the case could see Jim charged with the supply or sale of drugs and he faces a life sentence.

After a series of adjourned hearings, there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. Little Collins announced on Twitter that a hearing date has finally been set for mid-jury where it will take place over two days.

CBD law changes

The pending cases may dictate the future of the CBD industry and production within Ireland. As Jim highlighted, Little Collins and his own case may mean potential changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act.

“The Drug Act is hinging on our case and I think [the govnerment] realises that change is going to have to happen. Out of the 27 EU countries, it’s just France and Ireland that are not following the European Court of Justice ruling on the Kanavape case. However, France has decided to do this now by allowing a 3 per cent THC allowance for CBD products,” he explained.

Irish: A row of CBD oil

“They are still fighting the flower aspect of it that it cannot be sold to consumer but can be used to extract CBD. It looks as if Ireland is going to end up trying to do exactly the same thing. This case is going be really helpful within the Irish court cases that are going up against the state because it reinforces what we were doing was legal because the European Court of justice decided it was.”

He concluded: “We always felt we had a very strong case and all the other cases in Spain or Hungary have just reinforced that. The other cases have been really positive and people didn’t go to jail. But this whole thing has been really nerve-racking though and it just doesn’t make any sense.

It’s not that we gave up fighting. But if you don’t want to be harassed then don’t do anything to be harassed for and keep fighting them in the background. We want to get this stuff in order so we can get back to business.”

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