A lot of people have asked us the guidelines around taking CBD on holiday – the countries you can take the oil to, and most importantly, the ones you can’t…
In order to fly with it packed in your main luggage, you have to go through customs, and although CBD oil doesn’t contain any illegal psychoactive THC, the best thing to do is to check ahead before you fly anywhere. As a rule taking CBD oil in your hand luggage can be more tricky, because it’s a liquid, and taking liquids through airport security is difficult and sometimes even impossible.
Before you fly the most important thing to do is look up the customs rules around CBD for your destination. The easiest way to do this is to simply Google your destination with the word ‘customs’ afterwards. But sometimes it’s not as simple as that and you might either need to do more research, or contact the customs office at your destination directly and ask them whether you need to declare non-psychoactive CBD oil which you have legally purchased.
To be on the safe side, if this is too much hassle, don’t risk it. There can be serious consequences for bringing in banned or questionable substances into some countries. CBD is extremely new and there might not be rules in place which could potentially ruin your trip, or worse. Be absolutely sure it is okay before bringing CBD with you, even to the point of printing off correspondence with the customs office or speaking with them directly. Online research sometimes might not be enough. Use caution and take all steps necessary, or just leave it behind.
As for your carry-on luggage, it’s safe to assume that taking liquids on board the plane is going to be difficult, especially if they are over 100ml. This restriction has been in place for a long time now and if you’re a frequent flyer you may have come across this before. Once again, if you haven’t done your research, it’s not worth the risk. Airport staff on the UK side may be able to help with your enquiries, but also may be busy at peak times or find your query difficult.
All in all, travelling with CBD is currently a bit of a difficult process – but there are some exceptions. A few countries have legalised all marijuana and hemp based products, like the Netherlands, but it might still be worth making absolutely sure that any CBD you purchase here or in somewhere like Amsterdam is safe and legal to transport back and forth between the two. Customs laws are often unnecessarily complex and give long and strange reasons for why this may not be possible.
For the safety of our readers we have to say that it’s not worth the risks, and unless you have gone to an extreme length and contacted the right people to confirm that yes you can 100% take CBD with you abroad, it’s best to err on the side of caution until laws change worldwide.
