World News - March 2022

 

Cannabis in Greece

Lesvos, Greece - On the island of Lesvos, the most eastern Greek island in the Aegean, the under-ground market for low grade Albanian weed is relatively small and humble. Cannabis is totally illegal in Greece and the small fringe of artistic and other hip folks are content with mixing small amounts of low-grade flower with their rolling tobacco in traditional European fashion. 

Jerome Poynton 
founder of Lesvos
Plant Medicine Library

Over seventy licenses have been approved for medical marijuana production, however no facilities are operational. Two companies are very close to becoming operational, but if they come online now they will only be allowed to export to other EU countries that have setup retail locations. No Greek distribution laws have been enacted.

Consumers are largely left alone, and reports from locals on the Lesvos, some folks cultivate purely for their own personal needs. Olive trees and the olives is the main agricultural staple on the island and thousands of years of plant medicine has been practiced. Jerome Poynton, founder of the Lesvos Plant Medicine Library, has been working several groves and educating local farms and transplant residents on how whole plant cannabis and the region’s exceptionally olive oil can be developed as a uniquely high-quality product with possible export opportunities.  Poynton is exploring establishing a foundation both in Greece for the library and olive groves, and in the U.S. for cannabis chocolates made with a mobile kitchen for collaborations in states with licensed cannabis products. Lesvos was the home of legendary poet Sappho, as well as philosophers Aristotle and Theophrastus who pioneered western biology and botany, whose written contributions are still revered in the arts and sciences.  

France Rules CBD Not Addictive

Last June 51% of the citizens of France were for the legalization of pot. Statista reported in 2021 that France was the second highest for marijuana consumption in Europe. Pot is illegal in the country, there are no medical marijuana laws in place. The beginning of January of this year, CBD restrictions began to become loosened by the courts. In January 2022, the courts in the country ruled that CBD use is not harmful or addictive. 

According to Ganjapreneur, “The ruling follows a similar decision in 2020 by the European Court of Justice which determined that the French ban on CBD was unfounded since the cannabinoid has no psychotropic or mood-altering effects and no negative impact on health, according to an RFI report. That ruling allowed CBD products to be sold throughout the European Union.” https://www.ganjapreneur.com/french-constitutional-council-cbd-is-neither-addictive-nor-harmful/

Ganjapreneur also reported that there is an estimated 700 million euro possible market for CBD sales in the country. 

Irish Reforms

Medical Marijuana was legalized in 2020 in Ireland. The Health Minister, Simon Harris, stated that legalized recreational marijuana is not on the table. 

A NORMLIRELAND tweet from February 15th stated that $300 million euros in revenue in cannabis recreational sales is an estimated amount in Ireland by 2025 if recreational marijuana became legal. 

There are some reforms recently occurring regarding possession of pot in the Lucky Country.  Possession charges are becoming less restraining in the past year, and there were 5,170 less  possession charges in 2021, compared to charges a year ago which is half of what it was. 

The small changes only encompass possession of cannabis flower or marijuana concentrates. 

Flying High in Canada

Copilot, a cannabis retail brand, is working on opening a cannabis store in the Prince George Airport in British Columbia. Their website, shopcopilot.com, states they are “Introducing a safe, simple, and sophisticated cannabis retail experience to travelers across Canada.” 

Owners, Owen Ritz and Reed Horton, state on the site that they, “always dreaded the stress of flying and towards the end of their time in school, they observed a trend of using cannabis to make the travel experience less stressful and more enjoyable. However, consuming cannabis before or during travel was often inconvenient, inaccessible, or intimidating. After this realization, Owen and Reed set out to use cannabis as a way to improve the modern travel experience. With that mission in mind, Copilot was born.”

The cannabis store would be the first of its kind in Canada as well as the world being located in an airport setting. 

It is legal to travel by air with cannabis within Canada. It is illegal, however, to travel with marijuana to and from international flights. 

Copilot states it is opening the location, depending on the processes, in the summer of 2022.