Pot hope MPX gone to seed

WHEN MPX landed former NSW premier Morris Iemma as its Australian chairman less than a year ago, the Canadiancontrolled cannabis company was on a high.

Canberra’s Office of Drug Control had just issued it with a licence to manufacture and work had begun on an $8m indoor cultivation facility in Launceston.

By leveraging the Apple Isle’s reputation for being clean and green — as well as Mr Iemma’s expertise in health and government — the goal was to blitz a local medicinal marijuana market that had grown ninefold in less than a year, then expand into Asia.

But, instead, things have gone to pot.

The plan to grow here has been abandoned due to financial pressures that also forced out Mr Iemma. The company said it couldn’t afford him.

Since getting that critical manufacturing licence in November 2019, MPX has also lost ex-Australian solicitorgeneral Gavan Griffiths as a director.

In its latest quarterly results, the company said that rather than cultivate cannabis in Australia it will import from elsewhere, including South Africa.

Mr Iemma said one of the reasons he joined was that he personally believed in the use of cannabis for medical purposes.

“They had a vision and finance,” he said. “Part of the venture involved a premises in Tasmania … but the company’s corporate office made a determination to pull back.”

While MPX sells “pre-rolled joints” in Switzerland, in Australia its focus is on the management of seizures and pain.