A customer walks into the shop with a screenshot on his phone. He's seen an ad for HHC online, cheaper than what we offer, and asks why I don't stock it. It's not the first time I've been asked, and it won't be the last. So I might as well explain once and for all.
Semi-synthetic cannabinoids: HHC, H4CBD, THCP
Since 9 October 2023, Switzerland has tightened its position on a whole family of cannabinoids obtained by chemically transforming CBD or hemp: HHC, H4CBD, THCP, delta-8-THCP and their cousins. These substances now require authorisation, which in practice amounts to a ban for a business like mine: they can no longer be made, sold or distributed without a green light that, to my knowledge, nobody has obtained.
Even before that date, I didn't sell them. HHC in particular had a wave of popularity in 2022 and 2023 because it produces a psychoactive effect close to THC, while being presented as legal since it isn't technically extracted from cannabis but made in a lab from CBD. The problem is that we sorely lack hindsight on these molecules. There are no serious studies on their long-term effects, no regulated dosage, no reliable traceability on the synthesis processes some suppliers use. I'm not going to put a product on the shelf whose composition I can't guarantee to someone who trusts me.
No lab analysis, no sale
My second systematic refusal: any product for which I can't get the certificate of analysis, the famous COA. This document states exactly what's in the product – the real CBD content, the THC content, and above all the absence of heavy metals, pesticides or residual solvents.
I've had offers from suppliers selling resin or oil far below market price, without ever being able to provide a recent, independent analysis. In this business, an abnormally low price almost always hides something: poorly controlled cultivation, THC above the legal 1% limit, or residues that clearly shouldn't be in a product you put in your mouth or smoke. I turn these products down, even when the margin would have been better.
A customer once told me, "You're more expensive than the website I found." I told him I'd rather lose a sale than lose his trust. He left with the product – and he's been coming back for two years.
Promises that only bind those who believe them
The third refusal is less about a product than a way of selling it. I will never present CBD as a treatment for a specific disease, a substitute for anti-anxiety medication or a miracle cure for chronic insomnia. CBD isn't a medical guarantee, and I'm not a doctor.
Some suppliers still push their retailers to use this kind of sales pitch because it sells. I've seen labels claiming effects against epilepsy or cancer, with no solid scientific basis behind them. This kind of talk creates dangerous confusion: people may stop or delay a real treatment thinking a CBD oil will be enough. I'd rather point my customers to their doctor when the question goes beyond simple wellbeing, and stay honest about what CBD can and can't do.
Why it matters for a small shop
Tiny Green isn't a multinational. I know many of my customers by their first name, I see them come back, I answer their questions in person. That closeness requires a standard I might not have if I sold anonymously online. Every product I accept on the shelf, I test myself first, and I can explain where it comes from.
Refusing certain products also means giving up some of the turnover I could make by following trends. But the idea since day one has always been the same: sell what I'd sell to a friend or a family member, with no ulterior motive.
