British American Tobacco (BAT) has taken a non-controlling minority stake in German cannabis company Sanity Group for an undisclosed amount, the multinational tobacco giant announced on Monday.

Sanity’s Series B funding round raised $36.7 million, as reported by Bloomberg.

The round was led by BAT, alongside California-based Casa Verde Capital and Switzerland-based Redalpine, according to Sanity’s statement.

Casa Verde previously invested $3.5 million in Sanity in late 2021 and $15 million in Cansativa in early 2022, another German cannabis start-up.

In its statement, Sanity said the funding was “the largest cannabis investment round in Europe to date. »

The German firm also said it raised more than $100 million in total.

Nearly half of the new $37.6 million funding round will go towards Sanity’s medical cannabis business, with the rest going towards preparations for the legalization of adult cannabis in Germany.

Germany is in the early stages of cannabis legalization and will join Canada, the only G7 country to have taken the plunge so far.

In Canada, BAT has spent around $175 million to take a 19.9% ​​stake in cannabis producer Organigram in 2021.

BAT invested an additional $5.1 million in Organigram this year.

Sanity’s investment represents “another example of BAT’s continued work to explore many areas beyond nicotine, positioning BAT for future portfolio growth across a range of categories and geographies,” noted Kingsley Wheaton. , chief growth officer of BAT, in the company’s statement.

The Directorate General of Health (DGS) did not wait for the results of the experimentation with therapeutic cannabis – which was to be submitted to Parliament today – to make its decision. She announced to industrialists and doctors last Friday, and to patient associations this morning, the extension of the experimentation with medical cannabis for a minimum of one year.

The imposed decision is justified by the DGS by:

• the weak relay of experimentation in liberal medicine (only 200 liberal doctors took part in it)
• the lack of economic data on the gains on Tramadol – even though patients treated with cannabis were failing on Tramadol and no longer taking it, we are told
• the need to comply with European discussions, without however wanting to wait for the end of these discussions

A medical source familiar with the matter also reports resistance from the Ministry of the Interior to the legalization of cannabis for medical use.

Patient associations condemn the decision

The DGS chose to announce the decision initially to manufacturers, and not to patients, a timing that the latter regret. The DGS recognized here a “clumsiness”.

In a press release, the patient associations “deeply regret not having been consulted, or even informed of this decision, before it was leaked to the press by a press release from representatives of the agro-industrial sector. This method is symptomatic of the lack of consideration enjoyed by patients in this decision.

They also call into question the reasons mentioned by manufacturers for postponing the legalization of medical cannabis in France for one year.

“The reasons given for extending the experiment, namely the lack of preparation of the French agro-industrial sector and the risk of foreign players taking positions on the market, can in no way dictate our health policy. Prioritizing economic interests over improving the health and quality of life of tens of thousands of patients suffering from chronic and severely disabling symptoms constitutes a dangerous break with public health ethics and even the doctrine of “whatever the cost” adopted at the time of the Covid-19 crisis. »

The associations are calling for the availability from March 2023 and for the greatest number of “cannabis-based medicines from regulated production chains and conditioned on a first hospital prescription and subject to reimbursement”.

What suites?

Mado Gilanton, President APAISER S&C and patient representative on the ANSM’s temporary therapeutic cannabis scientific committee, is concerned that a postponement will not bring more results in a year.

“If there is an extension, we are asking for a firm commitment that this year of “deferral” be used to refine the indications and to make medical cannabis products available on the market. Otherwise, legalization would be postponed indefinitely. »

Two other points also remain to be clarified – the pharmaceutical status of these products and whether or not they will be reimbursed by health insurance – work started in 2018.

While the report on the experimentation with therapeutic cannabis was to be submitted to Parliament today, the DGS confirmed that it was ready, but that it will finally be submitted to the deputies in mid-October, along with the amendment of extension, and only a few days before the discussions on the said amendment. This tight timing will mechanically leave the deputies little time to prepare the subject even though the parliamentary work around the PLFSS promises to be particularly substantial.

No budgetary indication has yet been communicated regarding the postponement of the experiment. Since the 3,000 patients in the experiment have not been reached, the current suppliers of medical cannabis could be offered to continue to supply their products free of charge. A “lightening” of the device was also mentioned, without further details.

The Arkansas Supreme Court said Thursday that voters can decide whether to legalize recreational marijuana, overturning a state panel’s decision to block the measure for the November ballot.

The judges granted the request for Responsible Growth Arkansasthe group behind the proposal, to certify the measure for the November ballot.

“The people will decide whether or not to approve the proposed amendment in November,” Judge Robin Wynne wrote in the court’s decision.

The group behind the proposal appealed after the state Board of Election Commissioners blocked the initiative in August. Supporters submitted more valid signatures from registered voters to qualify, but the proposal still needed council approval to appear on the ballot.

“We are extremely grateful to the Supreme Court for agreeing with us and considering it a complete validation of everything we have done,” said Steve Lancaster, a lawyer. of Responsible Growth Arkansas. “We are excited and heading into November.”

Because the deadline for certifying initiative titles has passed, the court had allowed the measure on the general election ballot while it decides whether votes will be counted.

Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2016 legalizing cannabis for medical use. The proposed amendment allows people 21 and older to possess up to one ounce of cannabis (28 grams) and authorizes state-licensed dispensaries to sell cannabis for medical use.

The Board of Election Commissioners rejected the measure after commissioners said they did not believe the title of the ballot fully explained to voters the impact of the amendment. Proponents of the measure argued that the council’s criticism went beyond what was required for ballot initiatives.

The judges rejected the council’s arguments to deny the measure, but the court also struck down the 2019 law that empowered the council to certify ballot measures. Prior to this law, ballot measures had to be reviewed by the Attorney General before petitions could circulate.

Two conservative justices agreed the committee lacked the power to reject the proposal, but said the Republican secretary of state in Arkansas also correctly ruled the proposal insufficient for the US ballot. State.

“The title of the proposed ballot is not comprehensive enough to reveal the scope of the proposed amendment nor free from misleading omissions regarding child protection issues,” Justice Shawn Womack wrote in a separate opinion. .

A spokesman said Secretary of State John Thurston, who chairs the board of election commissioners, had no comment on the decision.

Cannabis is already legal in 19 US states, and legalization proposals are up for vote this fall in South Dakota, North Dakota, Missouri and Maryland. The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a proposal in that state will not appear on the ballot in November.

Responsible Growth Arkansas raised more than $4 million to support Arkansas’ measure, mostly from medical cannabis companies. Safe and Secure Communitiesa group formed to oppose the measure, raised more than $2 million from an Arkansas poultry industry executive and an Illinois shipping industry executive who supported Republican candidates.

the Family Councilanother group campaigning against the measure, on Thursday called the legalization proposal a “recipe for disaster.”

Republican Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, former Chief of Drug Enforcement Administration federal government, which opposed the proposal, did not immediately comment on the decision.

How does legalization work for Canadians?

On Thursday, the Canadian government kicked off a review of the legalization launched in October 2018. During a press briefing, the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, and the Minister of Mental Health and of Addictions, Carolyn Bennett, discussed the next steps in the review, which coincides with the government’s release of a commitment document titled “Status of Progress: Cannabis Legalization and Regulation in Canada”.

The review, scheduled upon legalization, was to begin three years after the start of legal sales, but was delayed.

“Canada is the first major industrialized country to provide legal and regulated access to cannabis for non-medical purposes, signaling the move away from the use of prohibitive measures to deter cannabis use, and the adoption of an approach evidence-based public health and public safety,” the document begins.

When drafting the Cannabis Act, lawmakers and policy makers recognized that for cannabis legalization to be successfully implemented, the framework “would require ongoing monitoring to assess early effects.” , as well as flexibility to adapt and respond to emerging policy needs,” the document states.

The document addresses the growing difficulties of the Canadian cannabis industry.

“The cannabis market is in its infancy and subject to ongoing market corrections. In response to the downward pressure on wholesale prices, licensees are seeking new investors and restructuring to help them compete in an increasingly competitive market,” the document notes. “Some licensees are pulling out of the business altogether or reducing the number of sites they operate.”

The document includes data related to some of the law’s goals, which include preventing use among young people, eliminating the illegal market, and reducing cannabis-related arrests, for example.

It also poses discussion questions throughout the paper, including: “What do you think of the legislative and regulatory restrictions currently in place to protect public health? and “What alternative measures, if any, could the government consider to better meet the needs of racialized, underrepresented, or indigenous communities under the cannabis licensing program?” »

One of the central points of the document concerns the way in which legalization affects the consumption of young people.

“Young people are at increased risk of experiencing the harms of cannabis, such as mental health problems, including addictive disorders related to anxiety and depression. Public education and awareness activities have been and continue to be critical to this effort to increase youth knowledge,” Bennett said Thursday.

“While much progress has been made in implementing Canada’s Cannabis Act and its dual goals of protecting public health and maintaining public safety, we need to assess the work being done and learn how and where to adapt to achieve these goals,” she added.

Regarding the illicit market, the document notes that illegal cannabis sales are “a source of profit for many organized crime groups”, and highlights the role of online sellers in complicating law enforcement efforts.

“Unlike the notable decline of unauthorized brick-and-mortar stores in Canada, the disruption of illegal online cannabis sales is an ongoing challenge. Monitoring online activity is complicated – a website can be created in one country, hosted in another, on a domain name registered in yet a third, while selling a product in multiple jurisdictions,” the document points out. . “Furthermore, websites can be created easily and replace those that have been seized or taken down by law enforcement.”

The document notes that some local leaders and law enforcement officials have shared concerns about home cultivation for medicinal purposes, which allows the four-plant limit to be exceeded in the adult use program.

“Specifically, there are concerns that some medical access program members could use their license as a cover for the production and diversion of cannabis to the illegal market,” the document notes.

The scope of the review has been expanded to include additional areas, including broader environmental and social impacts.

“Getting the scope of the review right was much more important than sticking to the schedule. If we had followed the law to the letter – both in terms of the three-year deadline and the considerations set out in the law – we would have missed an important opportunity to get it right,” said MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who is also Co-Chair of the Cannabis Caucus.

The government is also engaging with Canadians through an online questionnaire open until November 21.

In a short note sent to deputies and which we have obtained, Santé France Cannabis, an association which brings together several representative players in the future sector of cannabis for medical use in France, recommends “planning the postponement” of legalization by one year. medical cannabis in France.

As a reminder, the current experimentation with therapeutic cannabis ends next March. Three options are then available: legalization of medical cannabis, a second experiment or a pure and hard stop. A report produced by an entity external to the Ministry of Health must be presented to Parliament this Monday, September 26 to evaluate the system and fuel the debate on the follow-up to be given.

As recently covered, the extension of experimentation with medical cannabis is widely studied, which Santé France Cannabis supports.

“The national actors gathered in “Santé France Cannabis” propose – as some public decision-makers envisage – to provide for the postponement of one year of the generalization, planned for March 2023, in order to allow the time necessary for the sector of s ‘organise’ concludes the note.

Santé France Cannabis fears that “the generalization of the use of these drugs or the extension of the experimentation will not, under current conditions, be favorable to foreign players to the detriment of the French sector”.

The cultivation of cannabis for therapeutic use and related operations are technically legal in France. However, it remains to define the methods of cultivation or transformation of cannabis for medical use to allow medical cannabis companies to work outside the context of R&D.

If medical cannabis were legalized in April 2023, the supply of patients would not, however, be based solely on imports.

The production of cannabis flowers is effectively reduced to R&D for the moment, but the extraction has been worked on since 2021 by French companies such as Alkion BioInnovations. Meryll Buet, CEO of Alkion, confirms to us that it will be able to supply patients with cannabis extracts and APIs from April 2023. In the event of an extension of the experiment, Alkion will be able to either supply medical products based on cannabis if the chosen scheme allows it, or produce for export if it was granted an authorization for non-R&D production.

For Franck Milone, president of LaFleur, a French medical cannabis company, “we must generalize as quickly as possible and give French companies the possibility of accelerating the development and marketing of their products”. The Angevin company would also be able to supply cannabis-based medical products, not manufactured in France, from April 2023.

Asked by us about this note, Santé France Cannabis did not wish to publish its answers in Newsweed.

New York State voted on Tuesday to adopt home cultivation rules for patients treated with cannabis.

the Cannabis Control Board (CCB) has accepted a resolution to allow patients to grow their own plants for personal use. The passage of the resolution on home cultivation of medical cannabis comes about a year after the first regulatory proposal and several months after the council accepted the revised rules following a public comment period.

The CCB has now instructed the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to formally send the approved regulations to the New York State Department of State.

The new law will allow registered patients and carers to grow up to six plants, of which only three can be mature. They will be able to possess up to 2.5 kilograms of cannabis from these plants, which is in line with the state law on legalizing adult use.

Home cultivation rules for medical cannabis patients and caregivers will come into effect on October 5. Tremaine Wright, CCB President, said the development marks “an exciting milestone for our medical cannabis program.”

CMO Executive Director Chris Alexander said at the end of the hearing that the office has “prioritized patient access in this program”, and “that will continue to be a priority”.

“I’m really excited that we can provide this more affordable option for patients to have access to this drug,” he said.

BREAKING: Medical Home Grow has been approved!

✅Certified medical cannabis patients and designated caregivers in New York will now be able to harvest immature and mature cannabis plants. #NYCCB

—NYS Office of Cannabis Management (@nys_cannabis) September 20, 2022

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, the Colombian President stressed the need to end the war on drugs and preserve the environment.

Gustavo Petro did not hesitate to blame the countries of the North for their role in the destruction of the environment and in the perpetuation of the war against drugs, a symptom of their capitalist greed.

He accused the Northern Countries of being interested in his country “only to spray poisons on our jungles, to put our men in prison and our women in exclusion. You are not interested in the education of our children, but in killing the jungle and extracting coal and oil from its bowels. The sponge that absorbs the poison [la forêt tropicale] is useless, they prefer to throw more poisons into the atmosphere. »

During his speech, Petro pointed out that the Amazon jungle is being destroyed by the use of herbicides such as glyphosate, which have been used to eradicate illicit crops.

“To destroy the coca plant, they massively dump poisons like glyphosate which flow into the rivers and imprison the farmers. A million Latin Americans are murdered for growing the coca leaf and two million African Americans are imprisoned,” he recalled.

The “Amazon jungle is burning while you wage war and play with it,” Petro said, pointing out that developed countries cling to the use of oil and gas by inventing “one war after another.” .

Recognizing the failure of the prohibitionist policy, he called for an end to the war on drugs.

“The War on Drugs has been going on for 40 years, if we don’t get it right and it continues for another 40 years, the United States will see 2,800,000 young people die from overdoses of fentanyl, which is not produced in our Latin America. They will see millions of African Americans imprisoned in their private prisons. »

“The war on drugs has been used as an excuse not to take the necessary measures when more actions should be taken to save humanity”, recalled the Colombian president, stressing that “without justice, there is no there is no social peace. »

“I demand from here, from my wounded Latin America, to put an end to the irrational war on drugs. To reduce the consumption of drugs, we do not need wars, for that we need all of us to build a better society: a more united, more affectionate society, where the intensity of life saves addictions and new slavery. Do you want less drugs? Think less profit and more love. Think of a rational exercise of power. »

Bulgarian company CBD Seed Europe has registered two of its strains with the European Seed Register which it claims have record levels of cannabidiol.

While most hemp seeds registered in the European Common Catalog produce plants with a CBD content of 5-6%, newly registered varieties can reach up to 12%.

The two newly registered varieties, known as “Midwest” and “Northwest,” will be viable in most latitudes of the continent, the company says.

And, with EC limits for THC content in hemp seeds set to drop from 0.2% to 0.3%, it says it will be able to develop new varieties that will increase “even more » CBD level.

Investment of 500,000 euros

Americo Folcarelli, co-founder of CBD Seed Europe, said its success is the result of hard work and investment.

“We are delighted that after two years of testing and research – and over €500,000 investment – ​​we have reached the stage where our two high CBD seed varieties have been approved for sale in the world. ‘European Union.

“We believe this opens up a number of unique business opportunities, including exploring joint ventures with other breeders to create new varieties specifically designed for the European market. »

CBD Seeds Europe has worked closely with the European Industrial Hemp Association (EIHA) to promote its new strains.

CBD Seed’s Bulgarian hemp field

Lorenza Romanese, Director General of EIHA, said: “We are certainly pleased that the breeders are finally able to provide EU farmers with varieties that are suitable for our climate and higher in CBD – this is what the market has been asking for. »

CBD Seed Europe was founded by Canadian cannabis entrepreneur Mr. Folcarelli and his Bulgarian business partner Ivailo Staninski, with the company run by Simeon Genov.

In 2021, he claims to have recorded revenues of €500,000 and expects annual sales of €4 million from this new development.

Huge growth potential

Folcarelli says he was drawn to the European cannabis and CBD market because of its growth potential and, after running into numerous bureaucratic hurdles in southern Europe, the company chose Bulgaria.

After two years of testing under the auspices of the Bulgarian Seed Agency, as required by EU guidelines, its two new genetics were officially launched on the European catalog last month.

With Bulgaria now the company’s home country – which helped found the Bulgarian Industrial Hemp Association – the company plans to build the first seed research center in the next 12 months. and genetics in line with European standards.

CBD Seed Research Facilities

“My vision is that we can create a fully functional, vertically integrated supply chain from genetics to consumer products, so that every product is traceable back to the seeds that started the process. »

“This will allow us to create new and better hybrids that can compete with or even surpass those created in other parts of the world,” he added.

The company wants to work with European partners to support the growth of the industry.

Partnership is “vital”

He added: “Apart from seed registration, we have also worked with the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture, alongside EIHA, to help them develop regulations and legislation so that farmers and processors can work legally and safely. »

“Along with our partners and collaborators, we are also working with government agencies in Greece, Italy and Spain to improve regulation and transparency at all levels of the supply chain to ensure safe and effective products for the end consumer. . »

While imported US biomass contained up to 15% CBD, this latest development will boost the competitiveness of European industry. Mr. Folcarelli also asserts that certain North American biomasses do not adhere to “EU GMP standards and should not be authorized in food supplements”.

Global Hemp Seeds Market was valued at EUR 830 Million in 2021 and is projected to reach EUR 1,550 Million by 2027.

About 250 Flemish Liberals and Democrats from the Open VLD party gathered in Antwerp on Saturday for a day of congress. The party endorsed a statement by the youth party VLD that cannabis should be legalized in Belgium.

For party president Egbert Lachaert: “The legalization of soft drugs is an important step. Nor does removing them from criminal law encourage its use. »

And to continue “With the proceeds from the sale of cannabis, Open VLD wants to do prevention, as is the case today for alcohol and cigarettes. An amendment proposing to examine whether all drugs can be removed from the penal code was rejected by members of Congress. »

The original proposal read as follows:

“Cannabis is removed from the criminal law and therefore made legal. Under the Canadian model, consumption by adults is permitted. Production, distribution and sales are regulated and controlled by the government.

At the same time, when it comes to drugs, the government must invest more in prevention, deterrence and treatment. We are creating a legal framework for harm reduction. »

Binnengehaald op het congres: na een jarenlange strijd van @jongvld wil nu ook @openvld cannabis uit de strafwet.

Eindelijk. De wetenschap weet het al lang: bevordert niet enkel vrijheid, maar ook de volksgezondheid en est een aderlating voor de criminaliteit. De weg vooruit. 👊 pic.twitter.com/G92zfFbX9A

—Jong VLD (@Jongvld) September 17, 2022

And the other parties?

Georges-Louis Bouchez, the president of the Mouvement Réformateur (MR), the party of Belgian Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès, stated in an interview that he was personally in favor of the legalization of cannabis.

The mayor of Brussels and member of the Socialist Party, Philippe Close, calls for the legalization of cannabis.

The Ecolo party follows the PS, with the idea of ​​decriminalization which takes the question out of the judiciary to focus on a health angle. The Engaged are of the same opinion. DéFI also wishes to regulate consumption and sales.

In Flanders, the parties are much cooler. The CD&V (like the N-VA and the Vlaams Belang) is clearly against the decriminalization of drugs for recreational use. Vooruit is favorable, Groen too.