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European CBD Novel Food Evaluations Put On Hold

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Policy, Science.

Cannabidiol (CBD) products are extremely popular around the world, with consumers and patients buying them every day around the globe from brick and mortar stores, online, and virtually every other way that people buy any other type of product.

A vast majority of those products are either under-regulated or completely unregulated. That is not to say that every product is unsafe, however, what percentage of products are unsafe is nearly impossible to know right now.

Governments around the world are scrambling to try to implement rules and regulations for the emerging CBD industry, with many of them experiencing setbacks.

The latest example of that is in Europe, where the European Food Safety Authority announced this week that it will be putting a pause on processing CBD novel food applications. Below is more information about it via a news release from the European Food Safety Authority:

EFSA’s expert Panel on Nutrition, Novel Foods and Food Allergens (NDA) has received 19 applications for CBD as a novel food, with more in the pipeline.

Chair of the NDA Panel, Prof. Dominique Turck said: “We have identified several hazards related to CBD intake and determined that the many data gaps on these health effects need filling before these evaluations can go ahead. It is important to stress at this point that we have not concluded that CBD is unsafe as food.”

There is insufficient data on the effect of CBD on the liver, gastrointestinal tract, endocrine system, nervous system and on people’s psychological well-being.

Studies in animals show significant adverse effects especially in relation to reproduction. It is important to determine if these effects are also seen in humans.

This latest delay is definitely disappointing, and will likely be pointed to by cannabis opponents as ‘justification’ to abandon the CBD industry entirely.

It’s not as if there is a lack of research on this subject. A quick search on PubMed.gov, which houses peer-reviewed study results from around the globe, lists 4,881 returns for a ‘cannabidiol’ search query. A search for ‘CBD’ returns 9,727 study results.

By comparison, a search for the common sleep aid ‘Lunesta’ returns only 314 results. Obviously, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, but it does provide context regarding the level of research that CBD has already been subjected to.

Hopefully the European Food Safety Authority gets the data that they think they need and can get back to processing applications sooner rather than later.

In addition to the growing body of peer-reviewed research, there are literally millions of people around the globe that now regularly use CBD products and the sky has yet to fall. It’s anecdotal but still worth noting.

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Thailand’s New Cannabis Policy Framework Is A Model For The World

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Policy.

Thailand has officially made a historic cannabis policy shift. As of today, every household in the entire country can sign up to legally cultivate low-THC cannabis plants. It’s the first time in the history of the world that such a public policy was implemented at a national level.

To make the public policy shift even more historic, Thailand isn’t just merely allowing people to cultivate low-THC cannabis. Rather, Thailand’s government is fully embracing the cannabis plant and the industry it creates.

Thailand’s Public Health Minister previously indicated that there will be no plant limit for the government’s cultivation program, so households can cultivate as much as they want to. As part of the rollout of the new law, Thailand is giving away over 1 million cannabis seeds directly to households that sign up to cultivate cannabis.

The government is even giving out low-interest loans to help aspiring cultivators get their operations started. Thailand also launched an app to help streamline the process of people signing up their households to cultivate cannabis. An FAQ public service announcement effort was launched to help people understand the law and cultivation program.

The Health Ministry has largely led the charge for cannabis reform in Thailand, however, it’s not the only government entity embracing the cannabis plant. As we previously reported, a broad spectrum of government agencies in Thailand previously entered into an agreement to do their part to push Thailand’s emerging cannabis industry forward.

Thailand is also working to help right the wrongs of prohibition’s past by releasing thousands of people serving time for cannabis offenses. Courts will also halt current prosecutions that fit within the parameters of the government’s new policy. Every affected defendant/prisoner, regardless of when the offense took place, will have their offenses removed from their records.

To really hammer home the point of how big of a shift Thailand’s new law is from a criminal justice standpoint, not only were charges dropped against a woman that was cultivating cannabis, the officers were punished for arresting her in the first place. All of it took place in the weeks leading up to the new law taking effect – not after the law took effect.

Thailand’s new cannabis policy model still has its limitations, not the least of which is the limit on THC for all cannabis plants and products. It’s tough to fully categorize Thailand as a legal country alongside Uruguay, Canada, and Malta. However, Thailand’s policy is definitely better than every other country that is still clinging to prohibition, especially in the region where Thailand is located.

Thailand is now in a category all of its own when it comes to cannabis policy. When the new policy inevitably succeeds and doomsday scenarios prove to be nothing more than fearmongering, hopefully it results in other countries adopting some or all of Thailand’s policies, and even better, improving upon them.

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South Africa Supreme Court Reviews Cannabis Cultivation Club Case

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Policy.

South Africa’s Supreme Court is reviewing a case that could have significant implications for the future of the nation’s emerging cannabis industry. The case involves an entity that started a private cannabis cultivation club shortly after South Africa’s Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that determined cannabis prohibition as it pertains to people in private settings was unconstitutional. This latest case involving the private cannabis cultivation club may help firm up what exactly ‘private cannabis possession and use’ actually means.

Whenever a court issues a ruling, there are almost always questions left unanswered as well as the creation of new uncertainties. For instance, in South Africa’s landmark decision Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo stated, “It will not be a criminal offence for an adult person to use or be in possession of cannabis in private for his or her personal consumption.” What does ‘private’ entail, and what is considered to be ‘possession’ and ‘personal consumption?’ This latest case before the South Africa Supreme Court gets to the heart of those questions.

Private Cannabis Cultivation Club Model

Someone being in possession of cannabis in a private setting for the purpose of consuming said cannabis may seem like a straightforward scenario to some people, however, there’s a lot of legal gray area involved. For starters, does ‘private’ only mean in a person’s home, or does that extend to all private property, including business properties? Does possession include cannabis plants that are growing, or does it only mean harvested cannabis and products derived from the harvest? Does this involve gifting and/or paying someone to help with acquiring cannabis in private settings to any degree?

All of those questions are being considered via the latest cannabis case being reviewed by South Africa’s Supreme Court. The Haze Club (THC) launched with a unique business model. It’s a private club that involves people signing up for a membership, the member provides cannabis seeds to THC, THC then cultivates the plant for the member in a dedicated, private space on THC property, and after the plants are harvested they are provided to the member.

Obviously, law enforcement seemed to feel that the model operated outside of the Court’s decision being that they raided it and applied charges to the club’s owner. The club owner is arguing that everything was conducted in private and that the Court’s decision provided for such private activity. Ultimately, the Supreme Court will sort it out.

Possibly A Moot Decision

In the midst of the latest cannabis court case in South Africa, lawmakers and regulators are working towards making the country a legal continental and international cannabis powerhouse. The country has a ‘Cannabis Master Plan’ that is geared towards embracing cannabis commerce both domestically as well as beyond the borders of South Africa.

Domestically, the plans include provisions for a regulated adult-use industry. Internationally, at least for the time being, South Africa’s efforts will focus on medical cannabis. Currently, only three countries have legalized cannabis for adult use via legislative action, and out of them, Canada is the only country that allows legal adult-use sales to anyone of legal age regardless of their residency status. With that in mind, it will still be a while before we see international adult-use commerce between multiple countries.

However, when legal adult-use commerce does officially launch at the international level, South Africa will presumably be well-positioned to hit the ground running. In the meantime, much of the effort in South Africa will be geared towards the domestic industry, and private cannabis clubs using THC’s business model could be fully legalized, licensed, and regulated. If that proves to be the case, any decision in the specific THC case could ultimately prove to be moot.

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Morocco’s National Cannabis Regulatory Agency Meets For The First Time

Written by Frank Schuler on . Posted in Business, Policy.

Morocco is one of many countries around the world that are working towards reforming their cannabis laws and launching a legal, regulated cannabis industry.

For several decades Morocco has served as an international source of cannabis, albeit an unregulated one. Hashish from Morocco is common in parts of Europe, especially Spain.

The demand for cannabis products from Morocco is clearly there, it’s just a matter of getting the country and legal global industry to a point where legal supply can meet legal demand, and that is also true for domestic sales.

That will be awhile, however, Morocco did recently take a significant step in that direction when its regulatory agency met for the first time. Per The New Arab:

Morocco’s national regulatory agency overseeing the use of marijuana for medical use met for the first time on Thursday in one of the last steps before legalisation in the world’s top cannabis-resin producer.

The North African nation adopted a law in 2021 provisionally authorising the legal uses of cannabis for medical, cosmetic and industrial uses, and tasked a national agency to oversee the process.

Chaired by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, the National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis Activities approved its organisation chart and budget for the year 2022.

A regulated industry cannot exist without a regulatory body overseeing it, and from that perspective, the inaugural meeting by the National Agency for the Regulation of Cannabis Activities is a big deal in Morocco. Hopefully it helps speeds things up.

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British Columbia Decriminalizes Drugs – Is This A New Global Trend?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Policy.

A federal exemption has allowed this Canadian province to decriminalize not only small amounts of MDMA (ecstasy) but opioids, cocaine, and methamphetamine.

History will certainly regard Canada not to mention this period of time as a forerunner in the new wave of drug legalization. First, there was cannabis. Then the discussion about other psychedelics like psilocybin began to bloom (and in multiple places). Now, British Columbia has announced that all “hard” drugs will be decriminalized in the province.

This is not a federal, but state decision. There won’t be any formal infrastructure set up. One cannot obtain any of these drugs via legal brick and mortars set up by the government to dispense the same. However, people will no longer be arrested for possessing under 2.5 grams of any of these substances.

The Federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, said that the move by the province was in line with a federal priority to curtail opioid deaths. BC had 2,224 drug overdose deaths last year. Those statistics have also gone in absolutely the wrong direction since 2016. 10,000 people have died since 2016.

This new “exemption” begins at the end of January next year and runs until January 2026, unless extended further – or – depending on results – canceled.

Loopholes and Semantics?

It is not like other countries have not tried this approach before. See Portugal and Holland – for starters. Both of these countries have had mixed results.

In Portugal, all drugs were legalized after the repressive regime of Franco ended. That said, Portuguese law has also rolled back some of these “freedoms” based on their impact on public health. Today, the country has one of the most exciting cannabis cultivation markets in Europe.

In Holland, the famous laissez-faire attitude toward soft drug use created the first modern cannabis industry in the world that was at least widely tolerated if not always enthusiastically so. This is still true today, no matter how much there also seems to be a trend to reinvent the cannabis industry domestically.

However, there is another discussion now floating about the room – starting in Mexico but also showing up in places like London if not Austria of late. Namely that this kind of petty interdiction is expensive, not to mention tends to unfairly impact certain demographics. Plus of course, has constitutional implications.

At a time when the expenses incurred by governments in the name of public health have exploded, and Pandemic-related measures have infringed on personal liberties more than they have since the last global pandemic a century ago, it may be that simple issues like decrim are par for the course in a new post Pandemic era.

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Attend Cannabis Europa In London June 28-29th

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Policy, Science.

The emerging legal cannabis industry in Europe is at a critical juncture. After Malta became the first country to pass a national, no THC-limit adult-use legalization measure late last year several countries in the region are expected to follow in the near future.

Medical cannabis reform continues to spread across Europe, and with it, the expansion of the continent’s medical cannabis industry. The rise of adult-use legalization will obviously impact Europe’s medical cannabis industry, however, it’s still largely unknown to what extent that will be and how both sectors of the industry will operate alongside each other.

What is known is that the rest of this decade will no doubt prove to be the biggest decade in history when it comes to Europe’s emerging cannabis industry. The policies, rules, regulations, and other industry framework components that are created and implemented this decade will largely determine what the future of Europe’s cannabis industry looks like for decades to follow.

With that in mind, it’s more vital than ever for cannabis entrepreneurs, policymakers, and other leaders to network and learn from each other as much as possible. An amazing opportunity to do exactly that is coming to London on June 28-29, 2022 when Cannabis Europa’s flagship event comes to Old Billingsgate.

“We are ultimately trying to change society by bringing about acceptance and accessibility to cannabis in Europe.” stated Stephen Murphy, Co-Founder and CEO of Prohibition Partners at last year’s Cannabis Europe event. It’s a mission that remains true for this year’s event as well.

The venue for the event, Old Billingsgate, encompasses three versatile spaces and a beautiful terrace with unrivaled views of Tower Bridge, City Hall, The Shard, and London Bridge. The event’s two-day agenda covers a range of topics. Below is a sampling of the event’s speakers. For a full list click on this link:

  • Benedikt Sons – Co-founder, managing director, and CEO of Cansativa Group
  • Kristine Lütke MdB – Member of the Free Democratic Party
  • Dr Carl Hart – Professor of Psychology at Columbia University
  • CJ Wallace – Founder of Think Big
  • Hannah – Co-Founder and Non-Executive Director of Medcan Support
  • Dr Kojo Koram – Lecturer in Law at Birkbeck School of Law, University of London

The Cannabis Europa event taking place in London later this month will also include an expo floor featuring dozens of cannabis companies. The expo floor is a great way to network with exhibitors and attendees, as well as to learn about the latest products and services in the cannabis space.

Cannabis Europa will also offer a digital networking platform that will enhance the conference experience and help attendees get the most out of the two-day event. Features include viewing the attendee list, exploring partners’ virtual exhibition booths, learning and conversing via virtual ‘discussion rooms’, and much more. You can find more information about Cannabis Europa, including how to register for the event, at: www.cannabis-europa.com

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World’s First Airport Cannabis Dispensary Reportedly Opening Summer 2022

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

Prince George Airport will reportedly allow a dispensary on its premises as of this summer

Traveling, generally, with cannabis, is still risky, if not an angst-producing experience – even for those with doctor’s notes. Everyone else risks, at minimum, an unpleasant encounter in transit that can easily end badly.

When it comes to air travel – and of all kinds – this caveat is even more true and for a specific reason. Airspace is either “sovereign” or “international” territory. This means that unless there is domestic federal reform, those who transport personal stores are still breaking federal law. This is one of the reasons that flying with products in the United States remains a hazardous proposition.

Per international law, of course, cannabis remains a Schedule I drug. While this is changing, very slowly – and on an individual, case-by-case basis for patients (with plenty of administrative prep work required before one travel), so far for recreational users, this is uncharted territory.

The Canadian Exception

This situation is a bit different in Canada. National law allows travelers to have up to 30 grams of flower for domestic flights and airports have now begun to establish smoking areas – just like they did for tobacco smokers.

However, until now, it was not possible for passengers in transit to buy their supply airports.

This phase too is now ending. As of this summer. Canadians flying out of or landing in Prince George Airport will be able to either get high to fly – or take off right after they land. The only exceptions (apart from the obvious age limits) are that the dispensary will not be allowed to sell to international travelers – or employees of the airport. The store, called fetchingly if not appropriately Copilot, will check boarding passes before they sell – much like duty-free shops already do.

The new idea is not without its controversies. Two of Canada’s largest airlines, Air Canada and WestJet have raised concerns about those on international layover flights and the issue of intoxicated passengers more generally.

That said, this is a bit of a canard. International passengers of Canadian origin would still be able to bring their own and consume it before the flight. The danger from intoxicated passengers is no different than with alcohol.

There is no firm date set for the opening, but according to the website for the dispensary, it will be sometime this summer.

Flying high is about to take on a whole other semantic meaning.

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Could Boris Johnson’s No Confidence Vote Speed Up British Cannabis Reform?

Written by Marguerite Arnold on . Posted in Policy.

The British Prime Minister faces an internal revolt over ‘Partygate’ – but if he loses, will this move cannabis reform faster in the UK?

The UK is a bit of a hot mess right now. While the Queen seems to float above the fray and Britons seem to be happily celebrating her 70 years on the throne in delightfully nostalgic ways, blowback from Covid and Brexit is the name of the game right now across the UK.

This is certainly true for the current resident of 10 Downing Street right now. Boris Johnson is facing a vote of no confidence from the rest of the Tory party. This is predominantly because of the scandal caused by a lack of compliance with the government’s own Covid rules. However, beyond this, the UK is now suffering from not only post-Covid supply chain problems and inflation but the lingering effects of Brexit.

If Johnson does win, he will not face another such challenge for a year. What happens to pending policies – like cannabis reform for the UK?

Cannabis Reform is not Party Driven

No matter the outcome of Johnson’s fate which will be decided on Monday evening (British time), it is unlikely to impact cannabis reform, one way or another, at least directly. There are several reasons. This starts, tragically with the fact that the Labor Party can be just as anti-cannabis as their colleagues across the aisle.

Indeed, it is very clear that the unsettled political environment of the UK right now is one of the largest detriments to having a debate on legalization. The only politician who has been consistently and vocally at least pro decriminalization is the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. It is in his campaign for the same that one can hear the same kinds of reasons for legalization as in the United States. Namely, that stop and search activities by the police are predominantly targeted at minority youth.

Could German Legalization Influence the Brits?

It is very possible that German legalization later this year, along with several other EU countries (plus Switzerland) implementing some form of recreational reform will galvanize the debate here again. However, don’t expect miracles, much less fast ones. The UK does not even have a functioning medical cannabis access program backed by the NHS.

So, while the islands surrounding the UK are certainly hotbeds of reform, don’t look for any real change of policy on the mainland in the near future.

It is also crystal if not tragically clear that onshoring the debate is going to take more than the fall of a prime minister – and for reasons that everything to do with justice of all kinds – from economic to the political variety.

Both seem to be in noticeably short supply.

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Taxes And Provincial Mark-Ups Are Hindering Ontario’s Cannabis Industry

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Policy.

The main motivation behind legalizing cannabis for adult and/or medical use should always be based on it simply being the right thing to do. No one should ever be penalized for using/possessing a plant that is 114 times safer than alcohol.

With that being said, the reality of the situation is that creating a regulated industry for the purpose of generating public revenue is a driving force behind support for legalization around the globe for better or worse.

Taking the profit away from criminal enterprises and essentially re-routing it to a regulated system in which some profits benefit society is a winning political message, and if actually achieved, a great thing. However, it’s predicated on people actually making purchases from regulated sources rather than unregulated ones, and the transition is far from automatic.

Surveys and polls have consistently found that cost is a major factor for consumers and patients, which is not exactly shocking because that is basically true of any product. But unlike most products, there are a lot of unregulated options when it comes to cannabis, and in most cases, unregulated cannabis is significantly cheaper than regulated cannabis.

Various reports have been published regarding the average price for regulated and unregulated cannabis in Ontario and other parts of Canada, and while the price for regulated cannabis seems to be pretty consistent being that it can be easily tracked, the price for unregulated cannabis often seems to be inflated in my opinion.

I spend an ungodly amount of time online talking to consumers all over the world, and I have yet to find someone in Ontario that pays the prices for unregulated cannabis that are being reported for what that is worth.

It’s a safe assumption that for every extra dollar that gets added to the price of regulated cannabis a certain chunk of the consumer base then gets lost to the unregulated market. With that in mind, the fact that roughly half of the price of regulated cannabis products in Ontario is due to taxes and provincial mark-ups is obviously a problem and will always hinder the legal industry.

This is not to say that there should be no government profit at all. Regulatory oversight is not free, so there needs to be enough money to safely administer sensible industry regulations, and to some extent, put cannabis industry revenues to work helping society in various ways.

However, there needs to be a balance struck to help ensure that regulated cannabis is truly competitive with unregulated cannabis. Regulated cannabis will never be as cheap to produce as unregulated cannabis, but it needs to be close enough that consumers feel comfortable paying a little extra for a product that they know is tested and safe.