What is the legal age for CBD in France? What the law says

The text the whole sector rests on is the order of 30 December 2021. It defines the authorised hemp varieties and caps their Δ⁹-THC content at 0.30%, as it does for extracts and the products that contain them. It says nothing about the buyer's age. The MILDECA page on CBD, updated on 21 May 2025, summarises the conditions of sale without naming a minimum age either.

The "no sale to under-18s" notice you see in shops therefore does not come from a CBD-specific rule. Depending on the format, it comes from a broader rule or from the seller's own choice. The general framework is covered in our article on CBD regulation in 2026.

The table matches common formats with the text that applies. The articles cited are from the French Public Health Code (CSP) on Légifrance.

E-liquid is the clearest case. The CSP defines vaping products as liquids "containing nicotine where applicable": nicotine is not a condition. A CBD e-liquid is therefore one of them, and article L3513-5 bans selling or giving it to a minor under 18. The seller must ask for proof of age. To choose an e-liquid once you are of age, see our guide to dosage in mg/mL.

The disposable puff went further. Law no. 2025-175, in force since 26 February 2025, bans the sale of these single-use devices, with fines of up to €100,000, and €200,000 for a repeat offence, according to Service-Public.fr. The consequences for CBD puffs are covered in our article on the puff ban.

For smokable flower, the answer is less intuitive. A CBD flower sold for smoking fits the definition of "herbal products for smoking other than tobacco". The chapter that covers them requires warnings and an ingredient declaration, but contains no ban on sales to minors. Article L3512-12, which does impose one, covers tobacco products. As the texts stand, refusing to sell flower to a minor is therefore a shop practice.

The most common question is about oil. Two facts answer it. First, since mid-May 2026, inspection services have been applying the Novel Food regulation to foods and supplements containing CBD: the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed this plan in its answer to a written question published on 1 September 2026. An oil sold to be swallowed can no longer be sold, to an adult or to a minor. Our article on the withdrawal of CBD gummies explains the reasoning.

Second, on 9 February 2026, EFSA set a provisional safe intake of 0.0275 mg per kilo of body weight per day, about 2 mg for a 70 kg adult. The European authority states that safety is not established for people under 25, pregnant or breastfeeding women, or people taking medication. It is the only age an authority has put a number on for ingested CBD, and it is higher than the age of majority.

Health data explain the caution in the trade. The study backed by MILDECA on 223 samples showed that only 46% carried a composition label, and that 81% of those labelled products stated a CBD content different from the measured one. It also found 6% of samples containing undeclared neo-cannabinoids. On 19 June 2025, ANSM and Anses reported several hundred poisonings since early 2024 after people used products presented as CBD. The agencies also warned about accidental ingestion by young children of products whose packaging is sometimes attractive.

Teenagers face another danger too. In July 2026, the Réunion regional health agency relayed a message from the Directorate General for Health: since early 2025, exposure to synthetic cannabinoids has been rising, mainly among minors and especially teenagers, notably in the form of e-liquids. Our article on PTC describes these products. Refusing sales to minors keeps them away from a market where the label is not enough.

Phytogrammes sells its products to adults only, for these reasons.

CBD is not banned for young people on principle: there is a medicine that contains it. Epidyolex, an oral solution of cannabidiol, has been authorised by the European Medicines Agency since 19 September 2019. It is prescribed from age 2 for seizures in three rare conditions: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, Dravet syndrome and tuberous sclerosis complex. Our article on Epidyolex and the state of research details that framework. It does not in any way authorise unsupervised use in children.