Published: Just now
Candies and e-cigarettes with cannabis are sold legally in shops and on Tiktok.
Now the Customs Service is sounding the alarm.
– It is worrying that there are legal drugs in Sweden that are so easily available, especially for young people, says Jenny Åberg, expert at the Swedish Customs Administration.
Sweets and e-cigarettes, so-called vapes, containing the synthetic substance HHC are sold legally in Sweden. The products are available in Swedish sweets and tobacco shops, on social media and often on Tiktok.
HHC, or hexahydrocannabinol, is chemically similar to THC, which is the predominant psychoactive substance in cannabis.
– The effects may resemble THC, but what worries us is that the substance contains chemical changes. We should absolutely advise against eating regular cannabis candies, but here comes another thing where you make synthetic changes. Just because it looks like something you’ve seen before, you don’t know how the body reacts to it, says Jenny Åberg, an expert at the Swedish Customs Administration’s laboratory.
Aimed at young people
The products, which look like regular candy, can have flavors like cotton candy or banana. It also occurs in the form of e-cigarettes – so-called vapes – which are often aimed at young people, according to the Swedish Customs Administration.
– One thing that worries us is how the products are designed. It is colorful and stylish packaging with cool names where the target group seems to be young people. Vapes don’t smell like cannabis, says Jenny Åberg.
The first time the Swedish Customs Service came across products with HHC was in June last year. In 2022, a total of ten cares were taken – after that it has increased rapidly.
– This year alone there have been 29 cases taken into care so far and we are worried that it has increased so much. It’s about 11 kilos and 3,300 products, says Jenny Åberg.
“Very worrying”
Since the products are new, they are still legal to sell. Customs cannot therefore confiscate them – on the other hand, they can dispose of the products, which is a difference in the legal sense.
– It is very worrying. We do not want there to be legal drugs in Sweden that are so easily available, especially for young people. If you can buy it via shops, via Tiktok or other social media, the threshold is too low, says Jenny Åberg.
She also says she worries that these products are so readily available. At the same time, she says that this can also open the way for other, more dangerous substances in the future.
– There are always new variants and in the future it may be about really dangerous variants.
May be illegal
The Public Health Authority is now investigating whether the substance should be classified as a narcotic.
– We suspect that it will be able to be regulated as a health hazard or narcotic. It depends on what evidence there is on the substance’s effects. At the moment, however, we cannot say what it will be, as we have not yet made a decision about it, says Joakim Strandberg, head of unit at the Public Health Authority.
Regardless of which of the outcomes it is, it means that the substance will be banned.
– The hope is that we will be able to send our documents before the summer. After that, it is the government that makes decisions, says Joakim Strandberg.