Do THCA flowers get me high?
Yes. And for a very simple reason: all cannabis flowers are THCA flowers as long as they have not yet been heated (burned, vaporised, baked). THCA is not a new active substance that was “invented” or bred somewhere – it is the natural state of THC in every living hemp plant – and that is key to the question of whether THCA is legal.
What is sold as “THCA flowers” is therefore simply normal cannabis with a high active-substance content that is illegal in Austria – just under a new marketing name. As soon as you light or vaporise them, the THCA is decarboxylated into psychoactive Δ9-THC, and the effect is like that of classic THC cannabis because it is classic THC cannabis.
In recent months, more and more online shops have been appearing – above all from the Czech Republic – advertising so-called THCA flowers as “100% legal throughout the EU” or “legal in Austria too”. That sounds tempting, but it is legally wrong. Anyone in Austria who orders, consumes or possesses THCA flowers is committing a criminal offence under the Suchtmittelgesetz (SMG).
In this article we explain to customers in an understandable way what THCA is, why THCA in Austria is clearly considered a narcotic and what the conversion factor 0.877 means in laboratory analysis.
What is THCA anyway?
THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid) is the natural precursor of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol). In the living hemp plant and in freshly dried flowers, the active substance is present almost exclusively as THCA – not as THC.
- THCA itself is not psychoactive in its unheated state.
- However, as soon as THCA is heated (smoking, vaporising, baking), a chemical reaction takes place: decarboxylation. In the process, CO₂ is split off and THCA becomes psychoactive Delta-9-THC.
The entire business model of many Czech shops is based precisely on this chemical trick: they sell flowers with a low THC value but a very high THCA value – and claim that this is legal because it “only” contains THCA.
Is THCA legal? The Suchtmittelgesetz knows this trick
Unlike in many other countries, THCA in Austria is listed directly in the Suchtgift-Grenzmengenverordnung as a narcotic in its own right – with its own threshold quantity of 40 g of pure substance (for comparison: Δ9-THC 20 g). Flowers containing THCA therefore fall directly under the Suchtmittelgesetz (SMG) – regardless of their Δ9-THC content.
In addition, laboratory analysis uses the factor 0.877 to determine the so-called total THC content. This results from the chemical conversion due to the loss of mass through the splitting off of CO₂ during decarboxylation (molar mass ratio THC/THCA). The total THC value is the decisive figure for the EU and Austrian 0.3% limit for industrial hemp (EU Common Catalogue of Varieties, Regulation (EU) 2021/2115).