Australia yesterday said it plans to become the fourth nation in the world to legalize medicinal marijuana exports in a bid to score a piece of the estimated US$55 billion global market.
Cannabis cultivation in Australia is still relatively small, as recreational use remains illegal, but the government hopes domestic medicinal use, legalized last year, and exports would rapidly boost production.
“Our goal is very clear — to give farmers and producers the best shot at being the world’s No. 1 exporter of medicinal cannabis,” Australian Minister for Health Greg Hunt told reporters in Melbourne.
Shares in the more than a dozen Australian cannabis producers listed on the local exchange soared after the announcement.
Cann Group ended the day up 35 percent; AusCann Group rose nearly 54 percent; and BOD Australia closed up about 39 percent. All were record highs for those companies.
Hydroponics Co finished up 30 percent, hitting its highest price in five weeks.
Peter Crock, chief executive of Cann Group, which cultivates cannabis for medicinal and research purposes, said medicinal marijuana production had been stymied by limited demand from Australian patients.
“While the Australian patient base is growing, it is very small,” Crock said. “Being able to export will allow us to have the scale to increase production.”
Hunt said the new legislation would include a requirement that growers first meet demand from local patients before exporting the remainder of their crop.
Despite growing demand, only Uruguay, Canada and the Netherlands have so far legalized the export of medicinal marijuana.
The Australian government’s proposal needs to be passed by federal parliament when it returns to session next month.
The nation’s main opposition Labor Party has signaled it would support the move.
Exports would then likely begin within months.
Fueled by a growing acceptance of the benefits of marijuana to manage chronic pain, moderate the impact of multiple sclerosis and to soften the effects of cancer treatment, several nations and 29 states in the US have legalized cannabis for medicinal use.
Australia’s chief commodity forecaster does not publish data on cannabis production, but rough estimates by the University of Sydney estimated the legal industry at A$100 million (US$78 million), well below the C$4 billion (US$3.19 billion) that Canada estimates its market to be worth.
US consultancy company Grand View Research last year forecast that the global medicinal cannabis market would be worth US$55.8 billion by 2025.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the