Hexanhydrocannabinol is a new synthetic product sold freely on the market, especially in shops specializing in the sale of CBD. Its users report effects that they compare to those of a drug, which worries doctors.
It is a product that is gaining in popularity, in particular thanks to social networks, and which worries doctors. HHC, short for Hexahydrocannabinol, is a synthetic molecule derived from cannabis that can be smoked when in flower or resin form, or ingested when incorporated into candy.
On sale
It is sold freely commercially, as it is not considered a drug, but users report significant effects, comparable to those of other psychoactive products.
HHC-based products are mainly sold in tobacconists or in shops specializing in products based on CBD (Cannabidiol), one of the natural molecules of cannabis known, among other things, for its relaxing effects. BFMTV went to one of these shops where regular consumers of CBD, and sometimes of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive molecule illegal cannabis), snapped up this new product.
“What do people say who smoke THC? That the next morning they have a head like a melon and it’s hard to go to work. HHC is not the case at all. We get up, we is good and we’re ready to go again”, shares Michel, manager of the Parisian boutique CBD High.
“It’s called a drug”
But for specialists, the various effects of HHC are far from trivial and should not be trivialized.
“HHC has more similar effects with cannabis than CBD, whether neuropsychic effects, cardiovascular effects. We are in the same type of products. (…) It has roughly the same effects as ‘a firecracker, four to six hours during which we are high, we have effects of disinhibition, lack of control, poor management of all that is automatic, reflexes, many more anxiety attacks as well as ‘with THC”, explains the addictologist psychiatrist Dan Véléa, guest of BFMTV this Thursday.
“It’s called drugs, a psychoactive substance, which normally is a generic illicit substance but which, at present, (is the subject of) total vagueness”, he slices.
Especially since this product is not without danger to the health of consumers. It has many adverse effects on the neurological, cardiovascular and digestive systems, especially if its use is misused by smoking it.
“Combustion should normally be avoided, so smoking should be avoided, in particular these flowers which contain HHC and ideally, they should be vaporized to reduce the risks associated with combustion, the risk of cancer and the risk of cardiovascular disease”, explains the psychiatrist. specialist in the medical use of plants Nicolas Authier, who officiates at the University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand.
Possibility of status clarification
Dan Véléa also points out the vagueness on the question of possible sanctions: can we promote it legally? What action can law enforcement take upon the arrest of a person in possession of HHC? Can it be detected and/or confused with classic cannabis during a saliva or urine test?
Faced with the attraction aroused by this new molecule, the health authorities are working to clarify its legal status.
“One of the conclusions could take the form of a classification as a narcotic”, writes the General Directorate of Health in a press release.
In the European Union, Finland, Estonia and Austria have banned the sale of HHC.
