Marijuana Business Magazine August 2019

August 2019 | mjbizdaily.com 11 There needs to be clarity—not necessarily on pesticides, but on some of the things you normally use in organic cultivation within European countries (for cannabis cultivation). What can be used and how much? That is something we are working on. It will demand a change in legislation, because right now, the cultivation scheme does not have an agricultural focus on what is allowed in the production of cannabis plants. That will be up to the next Danish parliament to figure out, but it is also a question for European (Union) legislation. We already changed the Danish legislation last year to allow Canadian products to enter the Danish market, because Canadian producers are allowed to use things that are not allowed under European legislation. What lessons did Denmark take from other countries when it created its regulations? We went to the Netherlands, Israel (and) Canada. We talked to a number of producers, and we kind of took what was workable and turned it into a Danish scheme. Our system differs from North America in that we see medical cannabis sales through pharmacies. We think that’s the right way if you really want to underline that it’s for patients: It has a positive effect on health and is not recreational. What can other countries borrow from Denmark’s system? I know that a number of European countries have copied our legislative cannabis scheme, so I think we can learn from each other. It’s important to be attentive going forward because things can get extremely complicated and (the program) can stall. And that also goes for discussion within the medical community. It’s important to ensure that you have clinical trials, so that you have an ongoing discussion on the effects of medical cannabis. Matt Lamers is the international editor for Marijuana Business Daily . You can reach him at mattl@mjbizdaily.com.

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