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Cannabis Europa London 2023 – Day 1

The ninth edition of Europe’s leading cannabis conference, Cannabis Europa, returned to the Barbican Centre for the first time since its inception in 2018 this week, bringing together over a thousand of industry leaders, key policy makers from across the EU, and patient representatives. 

Opening remarks

Prohibition Partners CEO Stephen Murphy welcomed attendees to the Barbican’s theatre on Tuesday morning, highlighting the venue as a ‘beacon for creativity’ in the UK, and stating the need for ‘creativity in the cannabis industry’ was also ‘so essential’.

Harking back to the first ever Cannabis Europa in 2018, Mr Murphy recalled that there were ‘little to no patients, companies or regulations’ across the EU.

He added that while it is easy to get frustrated at the lack of change and pace in the industry, we must remember how far it has come in such a short amount of time.

Furthermore, he highlighted that there’s still a need for integration of patients across the industry, and that it must continue to put patients at the centre of its business models.

With this in mind, he welcomed the headline sponsor of the event, Jorja Emerson Centre’s Managing Director Robin Emerson, to the stage.

During his keynote speech, Mr Emerson told the audience that this was a ‘surreal moment’ for him, after starting, like many in the audience, as a family member of a medical cannabis patient.

He told the story of his daughter, Jorja, and the life-changing improvements that medical cannabis had had on her, stating that ‘naturally I decided to make medical cannabis my life’.

Next, he revealed to Cannabis Europa exclusively that Jorja’s story will soon be told in an upcoming documentary, aimed at driving greater awareness, greater access, and helping his company ‘shake up the industry’.

State of play – Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland

The first of a trio of ‘State of Play’ discussions in the morning session centred on Germany, which, following the dramatic shift in direction announced by the country’s government last month, drew a packed crowd.

Beginning with a blunt question from the panel’s moderator, Krautinvest Editor in Chief Moritz Förster, as to how happy the panel was with the newly announced policy paper, BvCW’s Dirk Heitepriem said: “As an industry we had hoped for more, but we always knew this was a marathon, not a sprint.”

Agreeing that anything regarding cannabis liberalisation being put into law is a positive step forward, he stipulated that the ‘first pillar will not be an easy one’ to implement.

“As a non-profit structure, there seems to be no role for industry other than supporting,” he added, stating that the second pilot study pillar was conversely a ‘huge opportunity’.

“We need to move ahead with this very quickly or we will allow the illicit market to flourish.”

Bloomwell Group’s co-founder Dr Julian Wichmann told the room that, for him, the most important part of the new legislation was ‘reclassification’, but continued that this could come in 2024 or later.

As to the industry’s role in a market centred around cannabis social clubs, the panel agreed that while this was ‘definitely not a structure that will replace the illicit market’, it had a key role to play in sharing the knowledge base it has been building for six years, ensuring the project doesn’t ‘start at nothing’.

While speculation on the upcoming pilot projects was tentative, given the lack of detail provided by the government so far, the panel said the data gained during this process would be crucial to ‘convince more EU states to change policy’.

The following panel turned their attention to the Czech Republic, where the country’s National Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil said he now believed there was enough data from the alcohol and tobacco markets to prove that prohibition does not reduce harm, but regulation does.

He added that the Czech Republic was now ‘lonely in its quest’ to launch a full commercial market, and that he was ‘still drafting a proposal for a commercial market and the sale in dispensaries and pharmacies’.

While stating that there was not yet a consensus in his own coalition as to how to push ahead with this, he ‘believed it was possible or I would not push for it; I am too old to waste my time on something I cannot do’.

“It is very difficult to have the debate at the EU level on this because countries have very different opinions and legal frameworks. The EU is a great idea, but very bureaucratic and, in many ways, very behind on this.

“The way forward is what we are doing. Individual states will change their laws and put pressure on the EU.

“Conferences are good, but we need to take concrete action. I will say it frankly… we need strong lobbying and campaigns, put some money on the table, and remove the unnecessary anxiety from politicians by educating them.”

The final ‘State of Play’ session turned to Switzerland, which, as Cannavigia’s CEO Luc Richner pointed out, is now seen as a European frontrunner in its efforts to liberalise cannabis.

He added that one fact about the Swiss model which ‘often falls through the cracks’ is that the country’s authorities ‘allowed everybody to come together and put forward studies on how this could work’, which he saw as a very ‘future orientated approach’.

“Even in a small country there are so many approaches to how this will look, and I think that is really important for what is going on around Europe. I don’t think we have the answer, because no one has the answer. I think we can help inform that.”

Harm reduction and the legacy market

The focus later turned from policy to the potential impacts of those policies on cannabis patients and users.

In a panel focused on harm reduction, Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner Lisa Townsend said that she feared both of the main political parties in the UK were gearing up for a ‘war on crime… an arms race that ultimately won’t benefit anyone’.

She added that while she did not subscribe to cannabis as a gateway drug argument, it was becoming a gateway drug for criminal gangs who have traditionally been focused on trading cocaine, but are increasingly moving to cannabis.

Turning to the current developments in Ireland, MEP for Ireland Luke Ming Flanagan said that he was hopeful the current Citizens’ Assembly on cannabis would have a positive impact on both public opinion and government policy, citing the success of similar initiatives on gay marriage and abortion.

“A lot of people were sceptical about the expert group (of the citizens’ assembly), but having watched the first few debates, it’s clear the citizens of Ireland are far ahead of the political norm on the topic. There won’t be a referendum on this, but it will put pressure on politicians.

“It’s not as progressive as I would like, but the citizens’ assembly will move it forward. Politicians in Ireland would legalise eating raw chicken if it was recommended by a citizens’ assembly.

“Looking at the opinion polls in the UK, it has never been politically easier to talk about the legalisation of cannabis. I struggle to see why one big UK political party isn’t coming out in support of this – you will bale votes and won’t know what to do with them.”

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour Party MP, said that there was currently a very ‘mixed message’ on cannabis, which is still criminalised despite there being a thriving private medical industry.

She also went on to raise the issue of disproportionate criminalisation in the UK despite there being no evidence of increased drug use around communities of colour.

This point was explored in far greater detail in the last session of the day by Unjust CIC’s Founder Katrina Ffrench, who said: “As a black male you’re nine times more likely to be stopped and searched for cannabis.”

“We are talking about people of colour being seen as criminal, whereas white people are being seen as pioneering… It’s incumbent on business and on governments to understand how prohibition has harmed these communities.”

Investor focus

The afternoon started with a succession of panels diving into the perspective of investors.

Panellists of the first session, which was entitled ‘A Gear Shift for Cannabis in Europe’, joked that it was probably more of a ‘handbrake’ over the past 12 months.

After warning that the session was unlikely to have much of a ‘buoyant start’, Editor and Investment Director at Southbank Investment Research Sam Volkering suggested that if a company ‘hasn’t been profitable, or doesn’t have enough cash, no one wants to put money near you’.

Sean Stiefel, CEO of Navy Capital, said in his view the ‘biggest detriment to investment is lack of regulatory clarity; even if you think the business is sound, you have no idea how long they’ll last’.

“It’s not gonna take a lot to get the sector excited again. On the flip side, in the last one to two years, you have seen business models just not work.”

For those businesses that have failed, he suggested that consolidation was not something his company was ‘bullish on’, as there remained large barriers to transferring licences, and many of their facilities are now out of date.

Regarding the news that financial behemoth Euroclear recently pulled out of cannabis altogether, Memery Crystal’s Nick Davis said: “The Home Office could help with this very quickly. Jersey has clarified the Proceeds of Crime Act – it wasn’t a particularly difficult thing to do. Not only is there uncertainty around the plant, but in the UK you have this proceeds-of-crime issue.

“If you’re an investor in 2023, with cannabis we’re probably more risk on than ever, and the markets are risk averse. You have to be a pretty frontier investor to take on those risks at the moment. I still believe the returns are there.”

The market was similar across the Atlantic, according to Mr Stiefel, who told the audience: “Liquidity for US operators is the lowest it has ever been. It is more difficult for an investor to wake up and decide to invest in cannabis than ever. Also, there are the fewest number of interesting investable companies that there’s ever been in cannabis.”

Agreeing with previous statements from the panel, he said that it was becoming clear the cannabis industry will never support hundreds of thousands of companies, but that like alcohol, there will be a ‘few conglomerates, a bunch of craft guys, and regional guys’.

“I would make the argument that, at least in the United States from now until the end of time, there’s going to be fewer cannabis companies.

“I still believe the US will get to a $100bn market. So, we think there’s a lot of upside for the guys that are going to make it, and every day it’s becoming more and more clear who that’s going to be.”

Catch up on Day 2 here. 

Tickets for Cannabis Europa 2024 are now on general sale. You can book online by clicking here.

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