Michael Joe Cini
20th November 2019
Medical Cannabiz, all around the world
From new markets to already established ones, we had the chance to take a look at medical cannabis in different countries
Day one of the inaugural edition of Medical Cannabiz World was a date marked in red in the calendar for lots of companies from all around the globe. Taking place in the luxurious InterContinental Hotel, in the island of Malta, hundreds of businessman and businesswoman were already filling the venue early in the morning. The summit brings them the chance to meet their peers and to network with other companies from the medical cannabis industry.
The workshops planned for the day were just one of the attractions that brought our attendees together, as renowned speakers would be coming from every corner of the world. They were given the chance to explain their colleagues how they were working on the industry of medical cannabis and the situation of the industry in their countries or regions. Organised in two different sessions, first the emerging markets took the spotlight, to later let the established markets attract the attention of our attendees.
In the emerging markets workshop, the speakers were Linus Maximilian Weber, coming from Germany, Andrew Agius, from Malta, Doctor Dani Gordon, from the United Kingdom, Suttisak Jantavongso, from Thailand, Leah Fletcher, from Ireland, Kristian Leisegang, from Africa, and Vladimir Kapustin, from Ukraine. Also a panel discussion about medical cannabis in Europe took place featuring Antoaneta Basarbolieva, Thomas Grima and Majrbritt Kristensen.
Some shocking stats were presented by our Maltese speaker, Andrew Angius, who said that every doctor in Malta can prescribe cannabis, although 99% of them don’t. Also, every pharmacy in the island can dispend these kind of medicines, but no more than 10 actually do. It was a common point of agreement throughout the whole day that this happens due to the lack of knowledge doctors have on cannabis. Weber explained how his company, Nimbus, is concerned about this and informs and educates doctors in that matter so they have the option to prescribe cannabis to their patients.
Dani Gordon made a very powerful statement on the effect of medical cannabis, as she claimed that, by prescribing the plant to their patients she “doesn’t cure people with chronic diseases, but dramatically improve their quality of life”.
After a short break, the action came back with the established markets workshop, that started with a discussion panel on medical cannabis on Israel featuring Maya Glogowski, Dana Melzer and Keren-or Amar. After that, Preet Marwaha, from Canada, Cathleen Graham, from Michigan, William J. Pascrell III, from the US, and Markus Hoffman took the stage.
Preet Marwaha stated that “Cannabinoids are one of the most powerful compounds that come from plants” and expressed his concern about one of the biggest problems that Canada is facing now: how to avoid people to buy from the “grey market”. Cathleen Graham analysed the different types of cannabis and how it is important to give each patient the specific type that will help them, or it could actually make them more harm than good. To finish for the first day, Markus Hoffman closed the session speaking about outdoor cultivation of cannabis as a more sustainable model.
The Medical Cannabiz World Summit will take place from the 4th to 5th November at the Intercontinental, St Julian’s, Malta, to be followed by the inaugural launch of the Medical Cannabiz World Asia Summit which will be held in Bangkok on the 22nd and 23rd of June 2020 at the Centara Grand Hotel.
