KanaVape

The first electronic cannabis cigarette is set to go on sale in the UK tomorrow. Created by a French-Czech company called KanaVape, the cigarette apparently offers many of the perceived benefits of cannabis, but none of the psychotic effects.

While they are made from organic hemp, KanaVape cigarettes do not incorporate any tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis plants. It will not make you high, claims a statement on the company's website, but it will make you relax. "We made KanaVape to give millions of people a legal and tasteful way of using cannabinoids. We craft our production with love, care and scientific research. KanaVape is good for our customers and good for the planet," say KanaVape's founders, Antonin Cohen and Sebastian Beguerie, in a statement.


A disclaimer at the bottom of the company site says that the e-cigarette should not be compared to a marijuana vaporiser or "e-joint" because of the absence of THC in the product. Instead it calls it a "premium e-liquid vaporiser". It does however preserve the flavour of cannabis -- should this appeal to you -- but with none of the smell. The organic hemp is grown especially in fields in the Czech Republic, Spain and France.

Earlier this week France's health minister Marisol Touraine opposed the cigarette going on sale in the country, according to the Guardian. Despite KanaVape not containing THC, forensic testing would be needed to confirm what ingredients are present and whether or not they are controlled substances.

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WIRED.co.uk got in touch with the Home Office as to the legality of the product in the UK. Here is what a spokesperson had to say on the matter: "Cannabis is classed as an illegal drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.

"It is an offence to supply and possess a controlled drug and to supply any article believing it to be used for their administration."

So without commenting directly on KanaVape as a product, the government line is basically, if it contains cannabis, it will be stopped. This is obviously very vague. KanaVape cigarettes were initially developed for medicinal uses, and if they are sold as such in the UK, it will be the job of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to regulate them.


A spokesperson for the MHRA told WIRED.co.uk that "where electronic cigarettes make medicinal claims concerning smoking cessation and harm reduction we continue to require regulation under medicines legislation as the correct route to marketing. This ensures that these products authorised as medicines meet the appropriate standards of safety, quality and efficacy and as a result could be recommended under various NHS stop smoking schemes."

The spokesperson went on to point out that non-medicinal electronic cigarettes will soon be regulated under a separate framework currently being designed by the European Tobacco Products Directive. It will be up to the Department of Health to decide how this works in the UK. In the meantime, they added: "the MHRA continues to encourage companies to voluntarily submit medicines licence applications for electronic cigarettes and other nicotine containing products as medicines."

It seems that for now there is no definitive answer as to whether KanaVape cigarettes are legal or not -- but no doubt as they go on sale we will hear too from UK politicians who are concerned about whether they should be allowed. Watch this space.