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President Biden’s Cannabis Commitment Could Have ‘Tremendous International Impact’ If It Is Moved From A Schedule 1 Controlled Substance

THE ramifications of last week’s announcement that the US President plans to pardon thousands of citizens federally convicted of the ‘simple possession’ of cannabis are yet to be fully understood. Though use of his clemency powers to expunge these criminal…

Juicy Fields Legal Challenges Gather Pace Across Europe, But Concerns Raised Over Increasing Efforts To ‘Put Blame On Victims’

IN the three months since the initial downfall of Juicy Fields, victims have been offered little in the way of reassurance that anyone is being brought to justice. While promises for a full refund made by the unnamed actors continuing…

Sanity Group’s Record Funding Round Led By BAT Could Bring More Big-Tobacco Capital To Cannabis, But Concerns Remain Over Conflicts Of Interest

October 3, 2022
Ben Stevens
Europe
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By Ben Stevens LAST week Berlin-based cannabis operator Sanity Group closed Europe’s largest ever cannabis investment round worth €37.6m, bringing its total funding to date to over €100m. While the Series B round saw long term investors like Casa Verde…

Drug Coordinators From 27 EU Member States Meet In Prague To Discuss Cannabis Legalisation As Czechia Moves Closer To Recreational Market

EARLIER this month representatives from all 27 EU member states, alongside non-governmental experts, NGO’s and private sector representatives, came together in Prague for the annual National Drug Coordinators meeting. The meeting, which is organised and hosted by the country holding…

UK CBD Companies Are Being Forced To Diversify Their Businesses To Combat ‘Tremendously Worrying’ Financial Crisis

September 15, 2022
Ben Stevens
United Kingdom
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THE OFFICE for National Statistics (ONS) released more troubling news on the state of the UK’s economy this week, revealing that concerns around the cost of living lea to ‘feeble’ growth in July, a month usually blessed with increased spending…

UK Government’s Decision To Reject Bermuda’s Attempts To Legalise Cannabis ‘Should Not Come As A Surprise

AFTER officially becoming the third ever female Prime Minister of the UK on Tuesday, September 6, 2022, Liz Truss handed over her duties as Foreign Secretary to James Cleverly. The 53-year-old, who was appointed Education Secretary in July following the…

The Italian Military’s Monopoly On Medical Cannabis Production Is Strangling Market Growth New Data Suggests

September 7, 2022
Ben Stevens
Italy
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WHILE Italy is both one of the earliest and largest medical cannabis markets in Europe, new data has revealed the ongoing inability of its system to ‘serve patients’ needs’. Italy’s medical cannabis market has been growing by double-digit percentage points…

Juicy Fields Has Now Entered Its Next Phase As More Fraudsters Emerge ‘Attracted By The Business Opportunity Of Scamming These Victims’

SIX weeks after the initial downfall of Juicy Fields, and the scandal has entered a new, unexpected phase that threatens to be just as harmful as the first. As the individuals and businesses publicly associated with Juicy Fields either retreat…

Columbia Care To ‘Wind Down’ Operations In UK & Europe

COLUMBIA Care has confirmed to BusinessCann that it is set to ‘wind down’ its operations across the UK and Europe as its upcoming $2bn takeover by Cresco Labs nears its final stages. The US cannabis giant, which currently has a…

Switzerland Has ‘Laid The Groundwork For Its Medical Cannabis Industry To Flourish’ And Could Soon Be Exporting ‘Very High-Quality Flower’

LAST week Switzerland became the latest in a string of European countries to relax its restrictive access to medical cannabis for both patients and businesses. Although the country has one of the oldest medical cannabis schemes and most developed CBD…

High Court Challenge Could See Ireland Lift Blanket Ban On CBD Products By October

July 20, 2022
Ben Stevens
Ireland
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IRELAND’s restrictive policies on CBD, which all but ban its sale, were challenged in the High Court last week as the industry continues its fight for survival in the country. The Irish High Court held an important test action on…

New Data Reveals England’s Private Medical Cannabis Prescriptions In 2021 Were More Than 9 Times That Of 2020

FOLLOWING last week’s dramatic political developments in the UK, which saw nearly 50 Members of Parliament quit in 48 hours, the prospect of making medical cannabis more affordable and accessible for the UK’s estimated 1.4m patients has inevitably fallen further…

Italy Could Allow Home Cultivation Of Up To 4 Cannabis Plants By The End Of The Year

July 11, 2022
Ben Stevens
Italy
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ITALY has become the latest European country to explore significant cannabis liberalisation, coming just weeks after similar developments in Spain. Last week saw the country, which was one of the first to legalise cannabis for medical purposes in 2007, begin…

European CBD Applications Will Require ‘Complicated And Huge’ Human Studies, Admit EFSA

July 5, 2022
Ben Stevens
Europe
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FOLLOWING the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) controversial decision to ‘stop the clock’ on all CBD novel food applications last month, the regulator addressed the industry in a virtual public forum last week. In what EFSA referred to as an…

EFSA ‘Stopping The Clock’ On EU CBD Novel Foods Applications, But Doubts Remain Over Decision’s Impact In UK

THE European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) issued a statement last week announcing that its scientists ‘cannot currently establish the safety of cannabidiol (CBD) as a novel food’. EFSA said they were effectively ‘stopping the clock’ on the 19 European novel…