While American cannabis production leans towards industrial use, a handful of European businesses are selling hemp as a low-THC alternative to smokable cannabis.

Hemp farmers based in Switzerland are slowly supplying the rest of Europe with hemp flowers containing low percentages of marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

These hemp strains are cultivated to ensure the level of THC does not exceed 0.2 percent in order to be lawful in most European countries, the Guardian reports.

The rise in hemp flower production comes at a moment when cannabis laws are rapidly changing throughout several European countries, such as the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, and Germany.

Switzerland currently allows up to 1 percent THC concentration and is seeing the most market penetration for smokable loose flower and hemp cigarettes are sold widely in Supermarkets. However other countries like France only allow up to 0.2 percent THC. The UK is one of a few exceptions that outlaws any trace of THC.

Companies such as Grünkraft and SwissX are currently exporting throughout Europe and the rest of the world, and will be in attendance at the upcoming International Cannabis Business Conference in Zurich.

“Switzerland has been flying under the radar a bit, but the nation has a great history as a pioneer in cannabis and hemp policy reforms. Now that the Swiss government has licensed over 600 businesses to sell low-THC, high-CBD cannabis, the local market is starting to boom,” Alex Rogers, Executive Producer of the ICBC, said in a statement.

American industries look to soon catch up to European production of CBD-rich hemp flowers, as the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill removed federal restrictions on hemp.

Max Lodish, Operations Manager for Hempshop.io an E-commerce site shipping Hemp and CBD products within the U.S. tells StT that although smokeable hemp cigarettes have caught on faster in Europe, the Legalization of Hemp will spur growth for smokable hemp products- “Hemp cigarettes and CBD Hemp Cigarettes are being sought online. Both cigarette smokers and pot smokers are interested..especially in States where there’s no legal cannabis”.

“Hemp can be found in food and clothing, in home insulation and your car dashboard, and in many other Kentucky Proud products,” Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell wrote after signing the bill. “Last year alone, hemp surpassed more than $16 million in product sales and attracted more than $25 million in investments to the commonwealth. Given this remarkable progress, I feel confident that hemp’s economic contributions will keep growing with full legalization.”

Although McConnell mainly pointed out hemp’s industrial uses, smokable flowers has become one of the fastest growing sectors, according to Hemp Industry Daily.

“You get the same taste, the same psychological feeling of smoking a joint, but without the high,” said Charles Peterson, a North Carolina hemp farmer, to Hemp Industry Daily.

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