U.K. topped Canada as legal pot producer in 2016, report finds
TORONTO Canada fell to a surprise second place behind the United Kingdom in 2016 legal cannabis production, according to an International Narcotics Control Board report issued last week.
Statistics collected by the INCB, a United Nations-affiliated organization, show the U.K. produced 95,000 kilograms of legal marijuana in 2016, compared to Canada’s 80,732 kilograms. The U.K. was also the world’s top legal cannabis exporter that year, exporting 2,100 kilograms, 67.7 per cent of the global total. Canada, by comparison moved less the 100 kilograms across borders legally in 2016.
The U.K.’s finish at the top of the pile is unexpected, given that the country has no legal medical cannabis framework. It does, however, allow the cannabis-based product Sativex, which is produced by GW Pharmaceuticals Plc for multiple sclerosis treatment. GW Pharmaceuticals is also developing an epilepsy treatment drug called Epidiolex.
“The majority of (U.K.) production is for Sativex, but a considerable amount has been developed for Epidiolex,” said Stephen Murphy, managing director of U.K.-based cannabis industry consultancy Prohibition Partners. “Product development and research would also account for a large per cent (of production).”
It’s likely, however, that Canada, which placed first in 2015, will “quickly leapfrog again” to the top of the production charts once 2017 statistics are taken into account, said Murphy.
Canadian production data for 2017 isn’t publicly available yet, but the industry has been ramping up rapidly to meet the demand of recreational legalization in Canada and, given the amount of capital being raised on Bay Street, to take advantage of international medical marijuana opportunities.
At the end of 2016 there were just under 40 licensed producers operating under Health Canada’s Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations. By the end of 2017, that number had doubled to more than 80. The number of medical patients in Canada increased by 60,000 between April and September of 2017 alone, according to Health Canada data.
Canada could also be angling for top spot on medical exports once 2017 data is taken into account. A handful of the largest Canadian cannabis companies made a significant push into Germany last year after the country legalized medical cannabis in the spring, allowing for sales in pharmacies and reimbursement through public medical insurance programs.
Aurora Cannabis Inc., for example, sold $2.5 million worth of dried cannabis in German pharmacies in the fiscal quarter ending Dec 31, 2017, accounting for 20 per cent of the company’s total revenue that quarter.
Bruce Linton, the CEO of Canopy Growth Corp., Canada’s largest cannabis firm, suggested in a speech given to the Economic Club of Canada last week that global medical pot sales will likely make up the largest chunk of revenue for Canopy within the next several years.
The question of which country has the top spot, however, is ultimately less interesting than the overall growth of the legal medical market outlined in the INCB report. In 2000, total legal production was 1,400 kilograms worldwide; by 2016, production had increased to 209,900 kilograms, according to the INCB.