A Canadian medical marijuana producer is wagering on overseas markets, having received the green light from the nation’s health department to export products to Croatia.
The Eastern European nation legalized MMJ last October.
Tilray, which is owned by the canna-centric private equity firm Privateer in Seattle, hopes the venture is the first of many export deals as it hopes to capture a nascent international market – especially at a time when the Canadian market is stagnating.
Tilray will export two varieties of cannabis-infused liquid capsules to Croatia, the Canadian Press reported. One contains 5 mg of THC and 5 mg of CBD per capsule, while the second contains 2.5 mg of THC and 2 mg of CBD.
Because an increasing number of European nations are legalizing medical marijuana, the continent presents a sizable growth opportunity, Privateer CEO Brendan Kennedy said. Germany, the continent’s biggest economy and the fifth biggest in the world, is expected to legalize MMJ in 2017.
In Canada, however, the market hasn’t lived up to expectations.
“The patient numbers overall are lower than we imagined in Canada, and they’re certainly lower than Health Canada’s own projections,” Kennedy told the Canadian Press. “Certainly that incentivized us to look at other potential markets for this product.”
