A quick look back at 2020 for Tom Hemp’s and the CBD scene
Wow – what a year! Actually, it can’t be put into words at all. COVID-19 has thrown a spanner in the works of many laws and plans, brought economic consequences, but most of all threatened our health. Perhaps the pandemic has also made some people think about what and who is actually important and what really matters in life.
Relaxation and deceleration quickly became the order of the day – and there is no getting around our very personal topic of CBD. To say it in advance: You have given us a great year. You have supported us, become – or remained – fans of Tom Hemp’s and, as a great community, have focused on togetherness during this special time.
Milestones for Tom Hemp’s: Online Shop, branch in Palma de Mallorca, Zalando
It was an exciting year for us at Tom Hemp’s too, with many milestones to strive for and achieve: first and foremost, the relaunch of our website with a new-look shop. You can’t see what it looked like behind the scenes, but let me tell you: it was a lot of work. Different ideas and approaches here, the implementation there, optimisations again and again; it took a while until we finally went online … but then it was all the more beautiful. We are proud and very happy that you are celebrating the new look!
Tom Hemp’s has also grown in 2020: new faces in the team, lots of great new products in the portfolio and – not to forget – a new store in Spain, Palma de Mallorca to be precise. Of course, a big opening event was not possible this year because of Corona, but we were still very happy about the growth.
Hey, we almost forgot: There was something else! Tom Hemp’s Beauty has developed quite a bit and since the summer you can also find us in the Zalando Beauty portfolio. Another step towards CBD acceptance in society.
CBD, the active ingredient in cannabis, is not declared as a narcotic
Unfortunately, this is still an issue: despite the positive effects of CBD, the extract from the hemp plant is still associated with an addictive substance. Sure, both THC and CBD have their common origin in the cannabis plant. But that’s it for the similarities between the two substances. CBD is demonstrably not psychoactive, yet CBD is repeatedly associated with a state of intoxication. Yet even the WHO found in 2018, as part of a very detailed and extensive review, that CBD has “no evidence of abuse or dependence potential“. In November 2020, the European Court of Justice clearly ruled: products containing the active cannabis ingredient CBD are not narcotics. This also overturned a ban in France, for example.
No negative effects – but exactly the opposite: CBD can support sleep problems, pain or stress, helps to relax the body and mind and has many other positive effects. And positive news and effects are definitely what we all needed this year.
Police intervention at Tom Hemp’s in Berlin
The reason for the mistrust and repeated labeling of CBD as a narcotic is also, and above all, the position of politics in our cosmos. CBD producers and distributors are still moving in a legal grey area, even though CBD is generally legal for the time being with a maximum THC concentration of up to 0.2%. We had to learn what this means at the end of this year: In a disproportionate raid with a legally questionable basis, we were once again put in the corner of illegality – wrongly. In November, the police confiscated goods worth around 500,000 €; during the raid, employees were treated like felons and ignored the fact that Tom Hemp’s, on the one hand, strictly adheres to the legal requirements, but on the other hand, also creates jobs in a professional setting and brings in decent taxes for the state. And this was not the first raid this year: there were already three raids of this kind at Tom Hemp’s in May.
We are saddened and sometimes a little angry at the level of ignorance. But we don’t want to end the year with resentment: It has been a difficult, extraordinary year for all of us, indeed for the whole world. But it has also been a year that has given hope. We have achieved great milestones, grown with you and advanced our vision and mission. And that, of course, is also on the agenda for 2021.
In this spirit, we wish you happy holidays, stay healthy and protect yourself. And don’t forget: CBD is our mission. Let it be yours too.
