Final week, the 68th session of the United Nations Fee on Narcotic Medicine (CND) voted nearly unanimously to put hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) below Schedule II of the 1971 Conference.

After over a yr of warnings from numerous worldwide well being our bodies and particular person efforts from a swathe of nations to control this novel substance independently, this marks probably the most significant effort so far to manage the speedy unfold of HHC.

HHC, a semi-synthetic cannabinoid which has the same impact to delta-9 THC, began to seem on the European drug markets in 2022, in accordance with information from the European Union Medicine Company (EUDA), and has since unfold rapidly due to the shortage of cohesive regulation and its relative ease of manufacturing.

Whereas many governments have celebrated the transfer, some are already pushing again on this prohibitionist stance, arguing that equally to hashish prohibition will merely push manufacturing to the black market and make accessible merchandise extra harmful with much less oversight.

CND Resolution 

On March 13, following ‘5 days of intensive discussions on world drug coverage’, the CND voted to approve the suggestions of the World Well being Organisation (WHO) and place six new substances below worldwide management.

HHC was the one substance of the six to be positioned below Schedule II of the 1971 Conference on Psychotropic Substances, which implies it now shares a class with hashish and methamphetamine.

This classification is reserved for substances that are thought of to have a reasonable threat of abuse and dependence, however which nonetheless have some potential medical makes use of.

Successfully, HHC is now banned in all UN member states, which are actually required to implement strict regulation on its distribution and manufacture.

Governments should now license and regulate all actions involving HHC, together with manufacturing, commerce, import and export. Whereas licenced researchers and medical professionals can deal with it legally for analysis functions, regulation enforcement businesses are actually required to criminalise unauthorised possession, manufacturing, or sale, with penalties together with fines and imprisonment.

Each nation current on the session voted in favour of the brand new categorisation, with the notable exception of the USA. Given the continued points the US is having with the proliferation of ‘intoxicating hemp substances’ and the shortage of federal regulation, this was a stunning omission.

In a short assertion, US representatives mentioned that they have been ‘unable to vote on the proposals’ to put HHC into schedule II, however that it was ‘already managed in the USA’ at ranges that can permit it to fulfill its worldwide obligations.

It is a questionable assertion, on condition that HHC shouldn’t be explicitly listed within the Managed Substances Act (CSA). Whereas particular person states have moved to ban HHC and different artificial cannabinoids, federally its legality stays open to interpretation of the Farm Invoice.

The unfold of HHC

In January 2023, Enterprise of Hashish first reported that the EUDA (then referred to as the EMCDDA) had hosted its first ‘technical skilled assembly’ on HHC, warning member states that it represented ‘the primary main new change out there for “authorized” replacements to hashish since Spice emerged in Europe simply over 15 years in the past’

The EUDA mentioned it had been monitoring the substance by way of the EU Early Warning System (EWS) since October 2022, after first being recognized in Might that yr. By December it had been present in 70% of member states.

In line with its newest European Net Survey on Medicine 2024, which was final up to date on February 25, 2025, artificial cannabinoids are actually the joint seventh most used drug within the EU, alongside Ketamine, with 14% of the 61,732 respondents stating they’d used them within the final 12 months.

The CND voted to ban HHC following a suggestion from the WHO, which said that it ‘poses a threat to public well being and has no recognised therapeutic use’, although this was partly as a result of lack of analysis on the substance. 

It famous that HHC has been proven to provide comparable behavioural results to delta-9-THC in animals, and in people ‘sleepiness, euphoria, anxiousness, agitation, psychosis, tremors and disorientation have been reported, along with respiratory, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal results’.

Moreover, ‘no research of the dependence potential of HHC in animals or people have been reported’, however its results on the CB1 receptors counsel that it will produce the same dependence to delta-9-THC.

Equally, no research have been reported on the probability of abuse, however as a CB1 agonist it’s thought to have abuse potential.

“There’s ample proof that hexahydrocannabinol is utilized in such a method as to represent a public well being and social downside, warranting placement below worldwide management.”

Worldwide responses to the HHC ban

One outlier within the world backlash in opposition to HHC and different rising artificial cannabinoids is the Czech Republic, which earlier this yr handed its pioneering Psychomodulatory Substances Act. 

Underneath this new act, designed largely to try to control these substances, HHC has been classed as ‘below evaluate’, seeing it studied for as much as two years to correctly consider its security.

The invoice, described as ‘revolutionary’ by its proponents, aimed to ‘regulate a broad vary of gear that don’t pose a critical threat to public well being or that don’t threat critical social impacts on people or society’, pushing in opposition to the just about unanimous worldwide place of prohibition.

The Czech Rational Dependancy Coverage Suppose Tank, based in 2017 by former Nationwide Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil, has pushed again on the CND’s transfer.

In a press release, the assume tank mentioned that it believes this transfer is ‘not solely procedurally flawed, but in addition factually unjustified and opposite to the trendy method to the regulation of psychoactive substances.’

It went on to criticise the evaluation by the WHO, stating that to class a substance below schedule II data have to be included on the ‘extent or probability of abuse of the substance, the severity of public well being and social issues related to the use, and the therapeutic use of the substance.’

It argues that the WHO’s report (based mostly on a submission from October 2024) doesn’t present ‘ample data on the addictive and abusive potential of HHC, depends on remoted circumstances from a number of nations as an alternative of scientific information, and utterly ignores data on the therapeutic use of the substance.’

“Any choice made within the absence of this data would due to this fact be legally actionable and will undermine the credibility of your complete worldwide drug management system.”

As an alternative, it recommends the CND undertake its new regulatory system, which it argues ‘fills the vacuum’ created by member states having ‘no different technique of regulation moreover prohibition’.

Conversely, in Eire there are growing calls to ban HHC altogether. In line with native information experiences, habit specialists and spiritual commentators have argued the federal government’s failure to ban HHC has ‘broken’ kids.

Guide baby and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Bobby Smyth informed one publication: “It’s now the second commonest explanation for drug induced psychosis in Eire and has been for the final yr or so.”

Talking to the Irish Impartial, Bishop Michael Router, who leads the Irish hierarchy’s medicine initiative, urged the federal government to ban the sale of HHC vapes ‘as a matter of urgency’, equally arguing that it’s answerable for the psychological and bodily hurt of younger folks within the nation.

Wider implications

Trying to the US for example, its clear that strikes to ban these new artificial cannabinoids can usually affect the broader hemp industries adversely and unfairly.

The difficulty lies in the best way HHC is produced. Right this moment, HHC is often produced from low-THC hemp crops by chemically changing hemp-derived CBD into THC after which into HHC by way of hydrogenation​.

It may be produced comparatively simply from low-THC hemp, which is authorized and extensively accessible all through many of the world.

Utilizing hemp-derived CBD permits producers to create HHC with out instantly dealing with hashish (high-THC hashish), leveraging the hemp’s authorized standing whereas chemically modifying its cannabinoids.

As seen in California, Texas, Missouri and different US states, makes an attempt to control these rising compounds usually result in overreach, impacting the operations of the authorized manufacturing of commercial hemp.

It’s as but unclear whether or not comparable overreach will happen elsewhere, however the hemp trade is undoubtedly maintaining an in depth eye on how UN member states plan to implement this new ban.