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The cannabis industry is globalizing fast, which means changes for mainstays of commercial production in Europe and North America, and new players coming online from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central America. Here\u2019s a roll call of a few entries from these increasingly cannafriendly international destinations.<\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\nThailand is aggressively trying to position itself as the clear leader in Asia\u2019s still emerging cannabis industry. The country\u2019s health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, announced in May 2022\u2014a month before a regulatory change took effect allowing residents to grow marijuana at home\u2014that the Thai government will be giving away a million cannabis plants to households nationwide. The new and groundbreaking change allows Thai residents to grow cannabis without government permission\u2014ostensibly to produce extract for medical use, which must be within a 0.2% THC limit. Anything above that is considered a \u201cnarcotic,\u201d and requires special permission. Large-scale businesses will also still need to be granted a permit to legally operate.<\/p>\n
As for actually smoking harvested bud\u2014penalties for public use remain in place. But in the privacy of one\u2019s home, cannabis is (at least) now de facto <\/em>legal in Thailand.<\/p>\n Analysts were quick to point out that Thailand\u2019s moves were made in hopes of attracting the exploding cannatourism sector to the Asian nation.<\/p>\n The process began this January, when the country\u2019s Food and Drug Administration \u201cdelisted\u201d the cannabis plant as a \u201cCategory 5\u201d narcotic substance, in response to a draft proposal from the progressive Charnvirakul. This took effect on June 9\u2014120 days after the change was officially published in the government\u2019s Royal Gazette. <\/em>But getting to the point of the Thai government handing out free weed to its citizens seemed unimaginable only a short time ago.<\/p>\n Thailand adopted a medical marijuana program in 2018 and approved commercial cultivation in 2020. But production is still harshly limited and rigidly controlled. The Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) is cultivating cannabis and making tincture, which, in turn, is supplied to hospitals and clinics. Private production licenses are just now coming online, but cultivators must sell only to the GPO or hospitals. Chaophraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital in Prachinburi province is one such hospital with its own cultivation and extraction operations.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a separate set of regulations for what\u2019s called \u201ctraditional medicine\u201d and \u201capplied medicine.\u201d The former is for use in the country\u2019s indigenous herblore, and the latter a Western-style medical marijuana program. In \u201ctraditional medicine,\u201d cannabis extract can be used to treat a wide variety of ailments (insomnia, migraines, etc.), but only with a solution of three percent THC, infused in coconut oil. For \u201capplied medicine,\u201d more potent oil or tincture may be used, but only for a very limited number of serious conditions, such as epilepsy and the effects of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n Chokwan Kitty Chopaka is founder and CEO of the Bangkok-based networking and advocacy group Elevated Estate, which held an international expo in November 2019, eagerly hyping what it called Asia\u2019s impending \u201cgreen rush.\u201d Three years later, she admits that such hopes have leveled off. The medical program was crafted \u201cwith the stigma in mind,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re scared of people being able to enjoy themselves or heal themselves. There are prohibitive license fees. The big companies will be able to pay, but the little guys won\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And despite some 300 cannabis clinics operating nationwide, there\u2019s not nearly enough supply to meet demand. \u201cThe clinics are only open a few hours a week, and most patients are still going to the illegal black market.\u201d This may change following the FDA \u201cdelisting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Chopaka does see that cultural momentum for a freer atmosphere is mounting. \u201cOn the underground front, we\u2019re getting really good at growing,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was quite difficult to find growers in Thailand five years ago, but now we\u2019re really producing good quality weed.\u201d And with the FDA regulatory change, cannabis is now \u201clegal as garlic.\u201d<\/p>\n So, progress may be slower than what was anticipated after the medical program was first unveiled in 2018, but Chopaka says, \u201cThey can\u2019t go backwards; they\u2019ve already opened the door.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, she\u2019s producing terpene-infused gummies under her own Chopaka brand, with a dedicated retail shop in Bangkok. Chopaka developed the patented terpene profile, which is produced by a factory under contract, and added to the gummies at her own factory. No actual cannabis is involved, but mimicking the flavor, she hopes, will contribute to the cultural shift and help \u201cde-stigmatize the use of cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n The traditional leader in the global industry and the crucible of Big Bud is facing something of a reckoning. Canadian firms pioneered the use of sprawling greenhouses, applying economy-of-scale strategies to cannabis. But now a market correction is causing a roll-back of Big Bud\u2019s ambitions\u2014which may be a boon to more eco-friendly boutique cannabis. New micro-cultivation licenses for small growers recently came available through Health Canada.<\/p>\n \u00a0Justin Cooper is co-founder and CEO of British Columbia-based GreenPlanet Wholesale, which supplies equipment and its own line of fertilizers to Canada\u2019s leading licensed cannabis producers.<\/p>\n \u00a0Noting that industry leader Canopy Growth recently shut down its two greenhouse complexes in BC, Cooper observes: \u201cCompanies came in to own the cannabis space, and they aren\u2019t doing so good. This leaves room for the craft cultivators to find a niche. The market is flooded. LPs are sitting on vaults of cannabis they can\u2019t sell. When people see a potential gold rush, they flock to it. But now that craft licenses are available, the market is maturing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cooper continued, saying that growers who transitioned from the black to legal market are now finding success as they cement their rightful place in this industry.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who were born into growing cannabis in the Kootenays and are collecting their first paychecks now, after living in a cash economy all their lives, [are] either owning production or finally getting gainful employment in the legal space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u00a0However, Cooper says official policy is in some ways holding back this sector.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government grades solely on the basis of THC content,\u201d he said. \u201cThe provincial government won\u2019t buy if it\u2019s under 21 percent, and all cannabis on the legal market has to go through the BC Liquor Control Board.\u201d<\/p>\n In contrast, aficionados have traditionally judged high-quality cannabis by aroma, color, bud structure and trichomes\u2014not just potency.<\/p>\n Cooper sees a remedy in proposals for a \u201cFarmgate\u201d program in which local growers could directly market their product\u2014one has already been launched in Ontario. \u201cIt\u2019d be like a farmers\u2019 market or craft beer brewery where customers could come and drink beer that\u2019s made on site,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Liquor Control Board would still tax and have regulatory control but would not do direct sales.\u201d<\/p>\n As the marketplace opens up to small growers in Canada, Cooper emphasizes how important it is for them to find areas that define them as a cultivator. \u201cWhat makes you different from your competition? The best way to complete is not to compete,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n With a growing market niche for organic, Cooper hopes to see more outdoor-grown product coming online\u2014despite the short growing season in BC. \u201cIndoor is a by-product of prohibition, and the carbon footprint associated with making a pound of indoor cannabis is atrocious,\u201d he says. \u201cWe have to be better stewards of the plant and the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel has had a thriving medical marijuana program; the government also added a legal commercial cultivation and export sector when the cabinet moved to permit medical in February 2019. An internal adult-use market may be on the distant horizon. New regulations being weighed by the cabinet would decriminalize personal use, making permanent a provisional decriminalization measure passed by the Knesset in July 2018. Some see a unique role for the country in the global industry.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael\u2019s traditional leading edge is in cannabis research,\u201d says Joshua Nachum Berman, director of the Tel Aviv-based networking platform CannaTech.<\/p>\n From 2015 to the pandemic shutdown in 2020, CannaTech held an annual conference, bringing together investors, entrepreneurs and scientists \u201cto explore the latest developments in the cannabis space,\u201d in Berman\u2019s words. CannaTech held expos in Panama and Cape Town as well as Israel and held events alongside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael has done well in agrotech and biotech, and cannabis sits at the crossroads of those,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s been ongoing cannabis research since the 1960s; we\u2019re a leader in research and development. It\u2019s written into the DNA of how things operate here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Berman runs down a litany of areas where he sees Israel\u2019s potential as a world leader. \u201cWe\u2019re exploring genomics on the agricultural side and developments on the medical side with new cannabinoids and novel delivery systems, such as vaporization and other cleaner alternatives to combustion. We haven\u2019t approached the full potential of what you can do with this plant.\u201d<\/p>\n Costa Rica legalized medical marijuana and hemp cultivation by an act of the Legislative Assembly on March 2, 2022, becoming the second country on the Central American isthmus to do so after Panama, which took the move in August 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n President Carlos Alvarado signed the law after two years of debate. In January, he\u2019d vetoed a more far-reaching measure that also would\u2019ve allowed personal use and home cultivation. The new law doesn\u2019t. Despite this limitation, the Assembly member who shepherded through the law has high hopes for emergence of a new agricultural sector for Costa Rica. Zoila Rosa Volio tells Cannabis Now <\/em>that the law will \u201cmark a before-and-after in our history, if appropriate regulation is implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n This, however, isn\u2019t a given. The center-left President Alvarado is on the way out. In an April 3 run-off election, the right-wing Rodrigo Chaves, a former finance minister, edged out centrist former president Jos\u00e9 Maria Figueres. It remains to be seen to what degree Chaves will attempt to roll back the cannabis reform, which occasioned much opposition from cultural conservatives.<\/p>\n The post Cannabis Around the World<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The cannabis industry is globalizing fast, which means changes for mainstays of commercial production in Europe and North America, and new players coming online from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central America. Here\u2019s a roll call of a few entries from these increasingly cannafriendly international destinations. THAILAND Thailand isContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":57331,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16516,6591,16517,50,6550,16518,16519,16520,85,133,16506,16521,13658,139,16522,128],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57330"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57332,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57330\/revisions\/57332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}CANADA<\/h4>\n
<\/a>ISRAEL<\/h4>\n
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COSTA RICA<\/h4>\n
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\nRead More: Cannabis Around the World<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"