Global CannaVigilance Cannabis Newsletter 2022 / 12

Hello friends of CannaVigilance,  

We are in June of the year already and it looks like the understanding of cannabis is truly hitting the main straight at full speed. We counted five countries where pro-cannabis legislative changes are happening this week, but more of that later in the newsletter. We will start off with why your cannabis business can be a success in Africa.  

Africa for beginners 

In Zimbabwe, the president recently commissioned a farm and processing plant for medical cannabis cultivation to emphasize that Zimbabwe is open for business and Uganda is already cultivating medical cannabis for the German pharmaceutical market. In recent years, several African countries have passed laws legalizing cultivation for medical and scientific purposes. To start a cannabis business in Africa, you need to do your homework and ask yourself some important questions before getting started. But there are many reasons why your cannabis business in Africa can be a success. Cannavigia's Business Development Manager for Africa, Wesley Petzer, has compiled a list for you – find it here. 

EMA makes it clear what means what 

From Africa to Europe: Over the past few months, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued a series of guidance documents to reach a point of harmonisation when it comes to terminology, quality and specification of herbal medicinal products. These guidelines try to create a uniform set of rules in order to level the playing field. Making rules and sticking to them increases the transparency of the business and ups the legitimacy of how it works. Having talked about the guidelines in one of our Global CannaVigilance newsletters, we have put together an overview what the guidelines are about and why they are important.  

Read the article here.

The summer of trade shows is around the corner 

At the end of May, the Agritechnica and Horti Asia took place in Bangkok, Thailand. We attended the largest trade exhibitions for agriculture technology and solutions in Asia and found it inspiring to see how the companies dedicated cannabis pavilion presented the innovative side of the cannabis industry. Go to our LinkedIn post to find out more.  

We're looking forward to now kicking off the summer of trade shows: We start in London at Cannabis Europe, then head to ICBC in Berlin and head to Durban for Cannabis Expo before taking a short break before attending Medical Cannabis Europe in Lisbon and CB Expo in Zurich in September. You can find an overview of the upcoming trade shows here and more importantly: get in touch with us if you'll be at any of the conferences.  

A vigilant eye on cannabis news:  

• It’s a good week to be a pro-cannabis lawmaker. In Portugal the new amended legislation was put before parliament after it was initially voted down and in Thailand there will be a relaxing of cannabis laws this week, allowing people to grow at home for medicinal purposes. Add to this the changes in Argentina where congress passed the law regulating the industry of medicinal cannabis and industrial hemp, Peru where the government is obtaining public comments on their next version of pending cannabis legislation before they actually pass it and Spain, where they are finally getting up and running with the possibility of decriminalizing medicinal cannabis. The end of prohibition looms larger and larger. 
  
• In South Africa there is an attempt to block pending pro-cannabis legislation… by cannabis growers. The unhappiness stems from an increasing amount of traditional, small African growers who feel that the government is sidelining them in order to only allow big business. 

• In good news for cancer patients, it seems to finally have been proven that cannabis can be used as a replacement or lesser use of opiates in pain management for the illness. The study, published in the influential Frontiers in Pain Research magazine has received wide publicity across the pharmaceutical press without the usual cynicism associated with cannabis cures.  
  

• After four years of legal recreational cannabis in Uruguay, almost 50% of users are going the legal route. The sharp rise in legal usage stems from an expansion of the network of pharmacies that distributes cannabis.