[ad_1]
Countdown supermarkets are recalling a hemp tea product after 1 NEWS asked about its legality.
Your playlist will load after this ad.
The product violated numerous regulations, including including a cannabis plant on its label, but professional hemp users say it is harmless and that reform is needed in hemp products. Source: 1 NEWS
The product violated numerous regulations, including the inclusion of a cannabis plant on its label, but pro-hemp users say the tea is harmless and a reform in hemp products is urgently needed.
Higher Living Organic Hemp Tea is imported from Great Britain, where it is legal. The company also sells a wide range of other organic teas, some of which are sold on Countdown.
Hemp tea clearly labels cannabidiol (CBD) that comes from a cannabis-related hemp plant and features a cannabis leaf on the packaging.
While CBD does not have any psychoactive compounds, it has been stigmatized for a long time.
Countdown has been selling the tea, but pulled it off the shelves after a 1 NEWS inquiry.
Under New Zealand law, only products containing hemp seeds can be sold for consumption.
“As far as I know the packaging doesn’t look misleading, which is interesting, it should have been a bit more of a red flag to Countdown that the product contained CBD,” said Consumer NZ CEO Jon Duffy.
Countdown wouldn’t speak with 1 NEWS on camera, but it does say that hemp is a fairly new area and there is confusion as to how it first hit your shelves in August. It says that all products go through a safety and quality process, which they are now reviewing.
Chris Fouley from The Hemp Store supports tea and says the rules should change.
“I think the rules are wrong, I don’t think I need a prescription to get hemp tea, but because our rules are so stupid and so restrictive at the moment, that even Countdown finds itself in violation of these rules, it’s just ridiculous.” He told 1 NEWS.
Fouley says now is a good time to tweak the rules, while the cannabis conversation is still fresh.
“We have to do it right now, we have to keep this momentum and not think ‘ohh, let’s do another review and tap it for a few more years and maybe the next parliament.’
While the tea is no longer available in their supermarkets, Countdown still offers it on their website.
“That could be pretty serious for Countdown,” Duffy said.
You are encouraging the company to act quickly to ensure that the products are not available to any consumer.
