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Spanish Agricultural Cannabis Redevelopment Project In Suspense

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

A large roses to cannabis production facility in Garrray Spain, Europe’s largest greenhouse of red roses, now sits empty as AEMPS delays on granting medical cannabis authorization.

Once upon a time, in a town called Garray, about 9 kilometres from Soria, on the banks of the Douro River sat a large greenhouse. It used to be the largest producer of red roses in Europe. After being bought by an American investment fund that specializes in the cannabis sector, they applied for a license to the Spanish medical authority to produce cannabis.

Aleia Roses, the owner of the greenhouse, was one of the largest companies in Soria, with more than 250 workers. The company had planned to produce 40 million flowers a year. Full Moon investments bought the facility in 2020 and planned to grow roses and medical cannabis. However, last April the owner decided to ditch the rose idea and focus only on cannabis. Since then, the permit has not arrived and everyone is getting nervous.

Cannabis Cultivation Licenses in Spain

The situation with new license development in Spain has been tricky for some time. There are, according to insider sources, 4 licenses, and these are held by various members of the Spanish Royal Family plus Alcaliber, a private company now shipping Spanish-grown cannabis to among other countries, Germany.

One of the reasons that licenses are difficult to obtain in Spain is that AEMPS is highly suspicious of outside investors obtaining licenses and then merely flipping them without developing a site. The AR project is different – namely, the facility is already built, and it is a form of economic development for Spaniards in a depopulated region that desperately needs the work.

However, this kind of waiting game is bad for future projects, no matter what happens. Covid is increasingly not a reason for delays and economies all over Europe are beginning to try to figure out ways to get started once again.

There is a demand for medical cannabis in Europe that so far has not been met, and right now, cultivation projects are needed all over the region – from Portugal and Denmark to Greece.

Be sure to book your tickets to the International Cannabis Business Conference now for the August return to Berlin.

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Germany’s Cannabis Vape Market Likely To Expand Rapidly

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Business, Medical.

An Israeli firm has obtained a first-of-its-kind license from the German regulatory authorities for extracts for inhalation.

The German market remains one of the most interesting in Europe in terms of product approvals and entry. As of last month, an Israeli company, Panaxia, along with its German partner Neuraxpharm, obtained a first of its kind regulatory license from German authorities for the marketing and distribution of medicinal cannabis extracts for inhalation.

The vape market so far is in its infancy so far – namely because of not only approvals but cost. So far, the largest vaped cannabinoid in the country is flower – usually with a medical vape made in Germany.

With the importation of extracts for inhalation, the vape market is likely to expand rapidly – starting with the introduction of Kanabo’s vape pod and associated vape capsules.

How fast they will find acceptance, however, is a discussion that may languish simply because most medical vape products are not affordable to the average patient without specific health insurance approval first.

That said, for existing medical cannabis patients, this alternative may become an alternative their insurers will pick up – especially for those who are fed up with the hassle of vaping flower.

Alternative Product Forms on The German Market

While flos has been the most prevalent new form of the drug for the last five years or so, there are indications that the German medical market is opening to other kinds of medical cannabinoids. Dronabinol is a big part of the market here – about 1/3 of the same – including the liquid kind. Now there will be other forms of cannabinoids that doctors can choose from.

This may increase the interest of doctors in prescribing the drug – especially given medical preference for “dosing.”

What this is also likely to do is create another expensive cannabis drug that insurers are reluctant to cover – and will be more expensive than the average cannabis patient can afford.

Right now, the average cost of cannabis to a patient is still running about 1,000 euro per month if they cannot obtain health insurance approvals upfront. This is a cost that is added to by the cost of a doctor’s prescription.

Change in other words is coming again to the German cannabis market – but the biggest barrier of all to access – cost and doctor prescription, remains unsolved.

Be sure to attend the International Cannabis Business Conference when the conference returns to Berlin in August.

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Denmark To Make Medical Cannabis “Trial” Permanent

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The trial scheme for medical cannabis in Denmark will be extended beyond 2021 and enter permanent status

Denmark’s medical cannabis “trial” has become permanent. This is intriguing for both patients in Denmark as well as the industry there. It also spells good news for the permanence of other European medical “trials” set up in the aftermath of 2017 when the first real medical cannabis reform came to the region thanks to the German cultivation bid.

The Parliamentary agreement means that cultivators who currently grow for medical purposes can continue to stay in business – a welcome move for even the bigger companies like Aurora which had established operations there.

Beyond the stability of medical access and cultivation licenses, the trial here has had mixed success. In its first several years, literally thousands of patients were able to gain access. In the final three months of 2020, fewer than 500 patients gained access – but that also might have been due to access issues. All of the medical cannabis used in the trial was imported.

With permanent status, medical cannabis cultivation can begin in earnest. The question is, will this cannabis be affordable to patients in other countries as well as domestic ones?

The German Discussion – And Other European Trials

There are all sorts of trials right now across Europe of the medical kind – from Germany to France. All of these are also expected to become permanent. The question then is, where does Europe’s cannabis come from – and more importantly on the medical side – who pays.

Danish medical cannabis is unlikely to be a big seller in Poland (for example). Just as in Germany, the costs of cultivation are just too high for an agricultural export market to flourish here – even indoors.

Regardless, there is going to be some domestic cultivation that proceeds, inevitably, to begin to meet local demand – and just as inevitably, local producers will look for export markets abroad.

How these two medical markets mesh will also be of great interest across the continent. Holland, in direct contrast, only exports GMP cannabis across the border. Patients in the Dutch market mostly go to coffee shops since Dutch insurers failed to cover medical cannabis post-2017. In Switzerland, next year, the recreational trial will also be run out of pharmacies.

Regardless, it is good news that trials all over Europe are moving forward with results that are starting to be permanent. 

For updates on the latest developments in the European market, be sure to book your tickets now to the International Cannabis Business Conference – coming back to Berlin in August 2021.

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Morocco Passes Medical Cannabis Use Legislation

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The African country passes highly controversial legislation in part to create sustainable agriculture for its citizens

Bill number 13.21 passed the Moroccan Parliament in the first week of June. The bill had been highly contentious all the way through passage, both domestically and right next door in Algeria. Regardless, medical cannabis is now legal in another country in Africa which hopes to capitalize on at least medical reform to provide incomes for its farmers.

Indeed, Interior Minister Abdel-Wafi Laftit, who introduced the bill, called on both domestic and international organizations, including the UN, to integrate the development of the drug for the benefit of sustainable economic development in the most impoverished parts of the country.

Cannabis In Africa

The entire topic of cannabis in Africa has been one that has moved forward in fits and starts depending on where one is.

In South Africa and Lesotho (which is surrounded by the larger country), medical cannabis reform has proceeded over the last several years to the point that multiple firms have now begun certified cultivation and are proceeding through the certification processes for at least export if not a bit more than that – particularly on the hemp front.

Uganda has already exported cannabis to Israel.

Zimbabwe’s government has also just changed the law to allow private investors, including those from overseas, to own 100% of their investments without any forced government participation and ownership.

Cannabis has come (back) to Africa.

Implications

There are many implications for the development of the plant in the African continent – and further that go beyond just direct investment in production. 

The first is the development of low water and energy production methods. 

The second is the discovery of new Landrace cannabis strains.

How specific countries develop their cannabis production and extraction pipelines both for domestic consumption and export even within Africa is another discussion – but further one that at this point is well underway.

So is the export of cannabis to Europe (which has already begun even if in small trickles) – both in terms of raw product – and beyond that – inexpensive flower and even extract bound for markets still starved for affordable product.

Be sure to book your tickets now for the International Cannabis Business Conference – which returns to Berlin in August!

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Is Boris Johnson’s Government About To Do Right By Cannabis?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The government task force examining how to regulate the industry suggests that the Home Office is not the best place to stick the cannabis industry – but not much else.

Sadly, Monty Python is not still doing skits lampooning British culture and government anymore. Or even Spitting Image. Regardless, and even without caricature to highlight the worst idiocies, the trajectory of British cannabis reform so far has been laughably cartoonish (where it has not also cost lives and of course been equally Dickensian.)

All of this makes sense of course when one realizes that so far, it has been the British Home Office – a large department that covers many unpleasant things about British life that cannot be called anything vaguely societally acceptable – that has handled all things cannabinoid from a policy perspective.

That now is about to change.

According to several paragraphs about halfway through the Final Report by the very officially named Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform presented recently to the Prime Minister, there needs to be a reform of the entire system in the UK. Further, that the regulation of medical cannabinoids should move to the Department of Health and Social Care as well as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

That said, the change in cannabinoid policy appears to be an afterthought, and further, tacked on a document that is heavy on the Brexit cheerleading and lacking a bit on fact-based reality – even about its characterization of the cannabis industry generally in the much-despised EU next door.

This starts with a characterization of all of this innovation now being allowed to flourish under the rubric of Brexit – if not setting the vaunted British Isles free of the “regulation of the continent.”

While there is clearly a problem with regulation in the cannabis industry – namely a lack of a clear, cohesive policy on the same in any country in Europe – there are a few countries well ahead of the UK on cannabis policy which is further allowed by the flexibility of being part of the EU.

Further, it is one thing to tout fundamental medical reform on this score and another to achieve it – no matter whether one is a country or an “island.” See Canada, where even after patients won the right to access the drug under a Supreme Court order, it took another 12 years to finally implement government agencies tasked with that kind of oversight.

So, while there is clearly regulatory change afoot for the industry that is likely to clarify the status of cannabinoids – at least as a medical drug – don’t expect anything so earth-shaking as say, Portugal, a member of the EU (or beyond that Luxembourg) are doing as of 2022. Or even Germany, which legalized the drug for medical purposes right around Brexit was being decided at the polls.

But you have to give them their due. The Brexiteers finally found cannabinoids. Now let’s see what they really do with them.

Be sure to book your tickets to the next International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns this summer to Berlin!

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French Move Forward On CBD Cultivation

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

Could hemp become as French as frogs’ legs and brie?

It may be a bit too early to break out the champagne, but things are certainly appearing to move on the hemp front in France.

According to Le Figaro, the government is coming to an end of its six month plan to reverse the ban on hemp production. This comes after last November’s decisions that CBD is not a narcotic and further that the French-specific ban on so-called “Cannabis-Lite” – namely containing less than 0.2% THC could not be upheld.

The new regulations will authorize the industrial and commercial cultivation of hemp as well as the import and export of the plant. Significantly, the French legislation stretches to all parts of the hemp plant – provided that the THC is at the European level of tolerance for the same.

However, it is not all smooth sailing. Specifically, the sale and marketing of raw flowers for use in smoking or making tea will be specifically prohibited. This is being justified on the basis of “protecting public health.”

According to authorities, raw flowers are too often smoked – and further authorizing their consumption for any purpose would make it harder for the police to determine whether cannabis they come across is legitimate (hemp) or not.

The drafting of the new order is due to be finalized soon, according to the French media, whereupon it must be sent to the European Commission. The other European States will then have a six-month comment period before the new framework becomes legal.

What Does This Mean for Cannabis France as well as CBD Europe?

Clearly, the advance of the industrial hemp industry in France is a victory. That it is coming so soon after the initiation of the country’s first comprehensive medical trial kick-off is also encouraging. 

However, the ban on raw flowers is a disturbing trend. 

Many patients (for example) use raw flower for many purposes (including home extraction of cannabinoids in either tea or oil).

In France, unlike Germany, flower is certainly being put to the test. However, it is also clear that the French are taking cues from other countries in an effort to contain the entire conversation as one of a manufacturing or medical one. 

How successful they will ultimately be, particularly given Luxembourg’s initiation of a recreational market by the end of the year remains to be seen.

One thing is clear. If France has been forced to move on CBD and medical use of cannabis, Europe is beginning to have its own watershed conversation about the plant uniformly and not just one country at a time.

Be sure to catch up on the latest moving developments in cannabis legalization when the International Cannabis Business Conference returns to Berlin this August!

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Medical Cannabis Approved For Production And Sales In Greece

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

The sunny, Mediterranean country holds great promise for the cultivation and extraction of cannabis products bound for the rest of Europe.

Move over Portugal! According to local English-language media, The Greek Reporter, the Greek Parliament finally approved a bill to legalize the cultivation and sale of medical marijuana in Greece (on Friday). The bill passed 158 to 33 with opposition only from the Communist Party of Greece, the Greek Solution and the MeRA 25 Party (supported by Greek superstar economist Yanis Varoufakis).

The bill, called the “Production, extraction and distribution of final products of pharmaceutical cannabis of the species Cannabis Sativa L (with over 0.2% THC)” was submitted initially by the Greek department of Development and Investment and has ticked along all spring.

What Happens Now?

For those who might be confused (since Greece initially passed a medical marijuana bill in 2018 to begin to allow medical cultivation), this new bill is intended to expedite the process for obtaining licenses for medical marijuana production and facilitate investment in the domestic industry. Indeed, government spokespersons have commented already that the intent of the law is to create an integrated framework for the development of the cannabis industry in Greece – specifically for the purpose of job creation and by encouraging investment in the country.

However, beyond this, there are still outlying issues that need to be fixed. Specifically, as of Friday, there were already domestic critics who were calling foul – namely that the process of reform has been “incomplete.” Namely, the Syriza Party is going to attempt to amend the bill to propose that the application process for a license should also enable producers to sell to domestic patients and further, provide products in both raw flower and extract form.

The Greek Domino and Its Impact on Europe

With Greece now officially moving forward with cannabis as a tool of economic development, it is unlikely that other European governments will sit on the sidelines for long. Indeed, even France is moving forward on a CBD cultivation bill.

The days of Prohibition are indeed coming to an end in Europe. And it is also very likely that, just like Greece, a formerly verboten plant will become instead a tool of governments to make lives better.

If there is a cannabis theme of the 2020’s it is likely to be this, particularly in Europe. Cannabis is being reintegrated into the continent. And the economies of its countries, as well as its peoples, will never be the same again.

Be sure to book your tickets now to the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Europe in August.

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Innovative Cannabis Ready-To-Use Drug: World’s Largest Registration Trial By German Company Vertanical Has Started

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Medical.

  • Biopharmaceutical company Vertanical from Bavaria is testing an innovative finished drug based on a unique cannabis extract in the final clinical phase
  • Goal: Establishing an effective painkiller for millions of patients with chronic back pain

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffer from some type of back pain, including in Europe where an estimated 25 million people suffer from chronic lower back pain.

Chronic lower back pain is one of the most common reasons why adults visit the doctor and is responsible for a significant amount of lost productivity across the globe.

For instance, back pain is the second most common cause of sick leave and incapacity for work in Germany, second only to respiratory infections. Unfortunately, the problem is only getting worse with numbers rising year after year.

The causes of lower back pain are numerous, which makes prevention efforts very difficult. It’s estimated that as many as 80% of adults worldwide will develop back pain at some point in their lives, many instances of which result in several doctor visits prior to the patient receiving a sufficient diagnosis.

Current Treatments Are Problematic

When it comes to treating chronic lower back pain, doctors currently do not have that many options. Some people go the route of doing physical therapy, which can help mitigate future pain yet typically doesn’t provide any immediate relief.

The most common medical treatment for chronic lower back pain is opioid painkillers, which do provide immediate relief, however, that relief often comes with additional issues for many patients.

Common side effects for opioids include (but are not limited to):

  • Fatigue
  • Dizziness
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting
  • Constipation
  • Respiratory Depression

Any one of those side effects are undesirable on their own, but all of them pale in comparison to the most problematic opioid side effect of them all – dependency.

It’s no secret that opioids are very addictive and that opioid addiction is a major public health issue. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 115,000 people died in 2017 from opioids.

New Therapy Option Will Revolutionize Back Pain Treatment

Opioids and cannabis have been the subject of a number of studies, however, most of them are very general and don’t necessarily focus on one type of condition and how certain terpenes interact with those conditions.

To say that ‘cannabis helps pain’ is much different from ‘this specific dose of this specific cannabis medicine has been proven to help this specific condition, as backed up by scientific data.’ With that in mind, the results of a new study are going to be very significant for patients that suffer from chronic lower back pain.

A Munich-based biopharmaceutical company named Vertanical started the last clinical phase this month for a study that focuses on chronic lower back pain and a very specific terpene profile. The study involves 800 patients in approximately 100 qualified and renowned medical pain centers in Germany and Austria and is the largest, most comprehensive double-blind, placebo-controlled study of its kind. Some study participants will receive a placebo while others receive a specially designed medical cannabis product created by Vertanical.

Vertanical conducted extensive research with 500 different genetic types to develop a medicinal therapeutic product based on cannabis extracts with a terpene profile designed to successfully treat chronic low back pain and other chronic pain. The product and study’s creators seek to replace opioids with a much safer, effective, proven medicine.

“With the results of this study and the goal of approval as a finished medicinal product, we want to show the positive dimensions of effect that this unique cannabis-based medicine has for people with this condition. We want to establish a painkiller that is a potent and tolerable alternative to treatment with opioids,” says Dr. med. Clemens Fischer, founder of Vertanical, explaining the therapeutic goals.

Learn More About Vertanical At Our Upcoming Event In Berlin

Dr. med. Clemens Fischer, founder of Vertanical, will be presenting on this very topic at our upcoming International Cannabis Business Conference event in Berlin, which is taking place August 26-27.

Vertanical maintains one of the world’s most modern research facilities and plantations for the cultivation of medicinal cannabis in Denmark. Years of intensive and highly invested research have led to the development of a unique medicine that is expected to replace opioid analgesics worldwide in the future.

The company advises doctors and pharmacists on questions about cannabis therapy; in-depth knowledge is imparted in seminars in Germany and Denmark. The phase III study on the use of a cannabis extract for chronic low back pain heralds another chapter in the company’s history.

In the meantime, find out more about Vertanical via their website, and make sure to grab your tickets to see their team and many other industry-leading professionals and policy makers in Berlin in August!

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The Dutch Medical Cannabis Industry Bands Together To Counter Misinformation

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Medical.

A new website, launched to counter myths in the industry, is being supported by the official Dutch medical supply chain. Why can’t this happen in other places?

Click on the website of the Institut of Medicinale Cannabis and you know you have encountered a “serious” website for the industry. For one thing, its sponsors are some of the best-known cannabis names both globally and more locally, starting with Bedrocan.

The second is that it translates to English smoothly.

All jokes aside, it is clear that the coalition of companies and non-profits behind the site mean business. Namely that they want to dispel myths about what medical cannabis is – and is not. Including the assertion that GMP grade (or pharmaceutical standard) cannabis is NOT like what you are likely to encounter in coffee shops.

It is an interesting campaign, coming as it does on the heels of a federal attempt to finally regulate the coffee shop grows domestically. And certainly, given the importance of Holland as the go-to source of exported cannabis (from Israel to Germany and the UK).

The information on the site is valid and necessary (indeed it is a wonder why the German industry has not done a similar thing yet). 

Regardless, it is a site that has its work cut out for it. 

To the average consumer, including patients, the concept of GMP is an amorphous one. So is the idea of “controlled dosing” – no matter how much that conversation is now absolutely in the room, and in a big way.

Medical or Recreational ish?

The reality is in Holland that this discussion is hard to have. That starts with the fact that the average patient, who, thanks to a reform in Dutch law as of 2017, cannot get their medical cannabis reimbursed via health insurance (as theoretically is possible at least in Germany next door). 

Faced with the prospect of potential mold or contaminants, or constant pain because GMP grade meds are either too expensive or too inconvenient (or both), it is not hard to understand that the average patient will find another safer source or grow themselves.

However, Holland is just a testing ground for what is about to start happening across the rest of Europe as both Luxembourg and Switzerland embark on their own recreational experiments. And as Germany re-examines the success (and many fails) so far of its medical one.

And as a result, this is a conversation if not party that at heart, is actually just getting started.

Be sure to book your tickets for the International Cannabis Business Conference when it returns to Berlin in August, 2021!