Celebrity CBD brands: 10 brands, 3 hurdles in France

The table lists brands whose launch is documented by a press release or an identified media outlet. It separates THC cannabis, which is psychoactive, from CBD, which is not: that difference decides everything else.

A few notes on these launches. The September 2020 press release presents Martha Stewart's range, developed with the Canadian group Canopy Growth, as made from CBD isolate. The August 2019 release announces that American football player Rob Gronkowski is becoming an investor and partner in the maker of CBDMEDIC, since bought by Charlotte's Web. Whoopi & Maya, which targeted period pain, closed in February 2020, according to CBS, after disagreements between its founders and California's new rules.

Other stars took a stance without launching a brand. The actor Morgan Freeman, for instance, argued for legalising cannabis in 2015. Such statements are personal opinions, not scientific advice.

Recreational cannabis legalisation in several US states and in Canada created a mass market, close to that of spirits or cosmetics. On a shelf where products look alike, a famous name helps a brand stand out quickly. Seth Rogen explained it to TechCrunch in 2021: Houseplant had to learn to get its message across in a heavily regulated industry, and left Canada in April 2021.

These markets remain distinct. THC cannabis is sold there in shops licensed by each state, while hemp-derived CBD follows other federal and state rules. Athletes must also consider anti-doping rules: our note on CBD and the World Anti-Doping Agency list explains what is allowed.

THC. Six brands out of ten sell cannabis with active THC, a controlled drug in France. Importing or possessing it would be an offence, however legal it is in its home country. In France, a hemp product may not exceed 0.30% Δ⁹-THC. Our article on the differences between THC and CBD explains what separates the two molecules.

CBD in food. Two of the four CBD brands sell products you swallow: Willie's Remedy coffee, and Martha Stewart's gummies and softgels. In a notice of 20 May 2026, the French agriculture ministry points out that foods containing CBD are not authorised under the EU novel food regulation, and announces checks. In February 2026, EFSA proposed a provisional safe level of about 2 mg of CBD a day for a 70 kg adult, without authorising any product. Our article on the withdrawal of CBD gummies sums up the situation.

Health claims. MILDECA points out that a CBD product may not, on pain of criminal penalties, make a therapeutic claim unless it has been authorised as a medicine. In France, the only CBD-based medicine is Epidyolex. A brand positioned on period pain, like Whoopi & Maya, could not be marketed that way. Products applied to the skin remain possible as cosmetics, with no therapeutic promise: see our article on claims allowed for cosmetics.

The question goes beyond American stars: it concerns any content creator who talks about CBD in France. Two texts apply.

The law of 9 June 2023 on commercial influence does not mention CBD. Its article 4, however, bans any promotion of products presented as comparable, preferable or substitutable to therapeutic procedures, protocols or prescriptions. An influencer presenting a CBD oil as an alternative to treatment would fall under that ban, punishable by two years in prison and a €300,000 fine.

For THC cannabis, article L3421-4 of the French Public Health Code punishes presenting drug offences "in a favourable light" with five years in prison and a €75,000 fine. The same article covers incitement to use substances presented as having the effects of controlled drugs. Relaying in France the promotion of a THC brand, even one legal in California, can therefore lead to prosecution. Our guide to advertising CBD products explains what the law allows.

A celebrity's name on a product changes neither its composition nor the rules that apply. Apart from Epidyolex, an authorised medicine, no CBD product may claim a health effect in France, whatever the brand. To judge a product, three lines of its analysis matter more than the name on the label: the dominant cannabinoid and its measured percentage, Δ⁹-THC at 0.30% at most, and a batch number that matches the product sold.

Our guide to the certificate of analysis shows how to read those lines, and our article on CBD reviews helps sort testimonials, celebrity or not.