Patient coalition launches appeal over plan to restrict CBD: 'Care before discrimination'

Patient organisations across Europe and beyond ask the Czech Government and the EU to publish the evidence rather than restrict it quietly.

PRAGUE, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, June 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- PRAGUE, 17 June 2026 — A group of patient organisations from across Europe and beyond today launched an appeal and public petition, Care Before Discrimination is a Human Right, defending patient rights and challenging moves to treat CBD as if it were a “drug precursor.”

Czech authorities are weighing precursor-based measures on CBD: among them, placing it on a European precursor list and restricting how it can be processed under Czech law. Before that, the coalition asks for something simple: publish the evidence, talk to affected patients, and decide openly.

The petition is open at cbdhumanright.org/sign, and the appeal is being published in six languages. The launch lands just hours before the Czech Government’s Council for Addiction Policy meets on the afternoon of 17 June.

Why it matters
CBD itself isn’t scheduled under the international drug-control conventions, and a purified CBD medicine is already authorised in the EU to treat severe forms of epilepsy. A sweeping restriction needs more than a hunch to justify it — and by the International Narcotics Control Board’s own account, the evidence that CBD is actually used to make illicit semi-synthetic cannabinoids is “limited.”

There’s also a practical problem. The genuinely dangerous products — synthetic and semi-synthetic cannabinoids sold through grey-market channels — need direct enforcement, age limits and quality rules. Push tested CBD out of legal shops and the demand doesn’t disappear; it moves to an unregulated market where contamination with heavy metals, pesticides and solvents is far harder to catch.

“Patients aren’t asking for a loophole. We’re asking not to be pushed into the shadows. If the Government believes CBD should be restricted, show the evidence, listen to the patients it affects, and explain why the rules we already have aren’t enough. Care before discrimination means deciding in daylight.”
— Pavel Kubů, KOPAC (Patient Association for Cannabis Treatment), Czech Republic

The coalition is at pains to say what its position is not. It is not a campaign against regulation. It backs quality standards, contaminant testing, honest labelling, age limits, and real enforcement against dangerous synthetic products. What it objects to is a quiet administrative shortcut resting on evidence no one has published.

What the coalition asks
The appeal calls on the Czech Government, EU institutions, and UN drug-control bodies to:

1. publish the evidence before any CBD restriction is introduced;
2. avoid covert or purely administrative measures that skip public scrutiny;
3. respect patients’ autonomy, dignity and right to make informed decisions;
4. regulate proportionately rather than prohibit;
5. aim enforcement at dangerous synthetic and semi-synthetic products; and
6. consult patient organisations before decisions are made.

Sign the appeal
The petition is live at cbdhumanright.org/sign. The full appeal, the evidence behind it, and press resources are at cbdhumanright.org

About Care Before Discrimination is a Human Right
Care Before Discrimination is a Human Right is an open coalition of patient organisations: Aube (Canada), Centrum Paraple (Czech Republic), Dosemociones (Spain), Fuck Cancer (Czech Republic), KOPAC (Czech Republic), Mothers for Cannabis (Portugal), PatientsCann (United Kingdom) and Verein Medcan (Switzerland), with more joining.
Care Before Discrimination is a Human Right campaigns on health policy and patient rights. It does not promote, sell or link to any CBD product.
The appeal’s formal title is “Care Before Discrimination — Patients’ Rights and the Proposed Restriction of CBD.”

Media contact
media@cbdhumanright.org — spokespeople are available in English, Czech, Spanish, French, German and Italian. We reply within a working day, and faster around procedural deadlines.

Notes to editors
The appeal is available in EN, CZ, ES, FR, DE and IT at cbdhumanright.org and in the downloadable press kit.
https://cbdhumanright.org/

#CBDisaHumanRight · #CareBeforeDiscrimination
– ENDS –

Pavel Kubů MD
KOPAC patient association for cannabis treatment
media@cbdhumanright.org

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