Western Cape has high hopes for marijuana market
Medical marijuana has the potential to become SA’s new growth industry — if it could just overcome regulatory obstacles and the government’s lack of enthusiasm
The Western Cape believes the medical cannabis market has significant potential to boost the local economy and is moving fast to position itself as the country’s main hub for this new industry. Following the rapid legalisation of medical cannabis around the world, many of the big Canadian producers are actively pushing their exports and seeking to invest in manufacturing capacity in parts of the world where operating costs are lower. Canada, which legalised medical cannabis in 2001, is heading for a huge oversupply by 2020, having licensed more than 70 companies to cultivate and sell medical cannabis in recent years. Wesgro, the Western Cape’s investment facilitation arm, is talking to three big Canadian pharmaceutical companies interested in investing in the nascent industry in the province. But Colombia, Israel and Switzerland are among the countries also actively positioning themselves as industry hubs, Wesgro chief research officer Cornelis van der Waal told a packed workshop in...
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