GDPR
Title: Why should you care about privacy and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?
Author: Cannabis Business Executive
Date: 21 May 2018
Extract:
GDPR is the European law that governs how your personal data is protected. The Regulation defines rules relating to the processing of personal data and the free movement of personal data. To quote the law, “It protects fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons and their right to the protection of personal data.”
If your business deals with personal data from a citizen of the EU, then your business falls under the requirements of GDPR. There are no exemptions for small organizations. If your organization collects or processes data from EU citizens regardless of their location, then GDPR applies to you.
GERMANY
Title: ICC Labs Signs LOI to Export Cannabis to Germany for Medicinal Purposes
Author: Globe News Wire Press Release
Date: 22 May 2018
Extract:
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — ICC Labs Inc. (“ICC Labs” or the “Company”) (TSX-V:ICC) (Frankfurt:2Q9) is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent with CanPharma GmbH (“CanPharma”), a licensed importer and wholesaler of narcotics in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Through its relationship with CanPharma, ICC Labs intends to export to Germany cannabidiol (CBD) isolate, oils and other derivatives, as well as various medicinal tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cannabis products, including dried flowers and cannabis extracts from our facilities in Uruguay and Colombia. The export arrangement for (THC) cannabis products is subject to receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals and the negotiation of definitive agreements by the end of second quarter in 2018.
Germany, with a population of 83 million people, €3.3 trillion in GDP and €320 billion of healthcare expenditure, is home to Europe’s largest medical cannabis market. Germany is already leading the way among European countries with a market value of €10.2 billion (US$11.9 billion).(1)
“As part of our strategy to gain a foothold in the European markets, we expect that CanPharma would distribute imported “BIDIOL” branded CBD oils and other medicinal CBD derivatives through German pharmacies. Our CO2 extraction laboratory currently under construction in Uruguay’s Science Park free trade zone in accordance with international Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) guidelines is expected allow us to meet all the GMP requirements from the German regulatory authorities.
As we previously announced on March, 2018, we signed a term sheet for the acquisition of a strategic 25% interest in Global Group Kalapa S.L., a private company headquartered in Spain. We are now seeking to further our entrance into the European market with our CanPharma relationship, which will also facilitate our sale of medicinal products through B2B distribution channels. We look forward to diversifying our operations from two low cost jurisdictions in Latin America, with our European expansion into the B2B market,” commented Alejandro Antalich, Chief Executive Officer of ICC Labs.
UK
Title: Is the UK the world’s biggest exporter of legal cannabis?
Author: BBC
Date: 23 May 2018
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-44197038
Extract:
As the UK hosts a summit on the state of medical cannabis in Europe, BBC Reality Check asks – does Britain really export more legal cannabis than any other country?
Pro-drug reform campaign group Transform says the government is denying that cannabis has medical uses while at the same time overseeing “the world’s biggest government-licensed medical cannabis production and export market”.
There has been controversy over two boys whose families want them to have legal access to cannabis-based products that are currently illegal in the UK. Six-year-old Alfie Dingley and 12-year-old Billy Caldwell both suffer multiple seizures every day because of rare and treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy.
The UN’s International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) says the UK was the main producer and exporter of medical cannabis in 2016. The majority of it ended up in the US.
But virtually all of that is one drug – Sativex – used to treat muscle stiffness and spasms in people with multiple sclerosis. The Home Office doesn’t define it as cannabis – but the INCB does.
Sativex is available throughout the UK but only provided free on the NHS in Wales.
British Sugar has a horticultural business close to its Wissington sugar beet plant
Cannabis, along with many of the more than 100 chemicals it’s made up of, is a controlled substance – possession and supply are punishable with fines and imprisonment.
The family of Alfie Dingley want permission to use cannabis oil from the whole plant, which they believe will work better than any legal alternative.
Cannabis is also being grown legally in the UK for another medicine, Epidiolex. This cannabis-based solution is currently being reviewed for the treatment of two rare forms of uncontrollable epilepsy, by medicine agencies in both the US and Europe. But it’s not yet available.
The specially bred type of cannabis plant used to make it is grown in a glasshouse in Wissington, Norfolk, by British Sugar – which also grows virtually all of the sugar beet in the UK.
British Sugar – whose managing director is Paul Kenward – has an exclusive deal with pharmaceutical company GW, which makes Epidiolex. Mr Kenward is married to drugs minister Victoria Atkins.
She was accused of “hypocrisy on a grand scale” over her husband’s involvement in a legal cannabis farm. She declared the interest in Parliament when she was appointed in 2017 and excused herself from speaking for the government on cannabis.
