Does anyone know countries with medical Cannabis (Marijuana) programs that do not require a GMP to import Cannabis?
Hi there.
Almost all of these programs are highly government regulated - with imports from other nation states - like in the EU. There’s limited study cannabis that is moved around. But all of those are controlled by government entities like the FDA and DEA.
What are you trying to do? Are trying to move hemp products? high THC products?
Fiber products (there are many of those).
The EU countries are looking to INCREASE their regulations on cannabis from GMP to GCCMP specific for cannabis flower products.
Are you looking for countries that are outside of the EMEA membership group? Outside of the PIC/S group?
Many of those countries don’t have programs at all.
Give a little more information about what you want to do and I’ll see if I can point you in the right direction.
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European countries are controled from Austria Wich sets the quota for the year to come from each eu country
So if you want to make a move plan ahead
I’d like to export the flower from South Africa to any country. Naturally, the European market seems like a good fit, but from my research almost all countries require an EU-GMP certification. I’m having trouble getting a definitive answer on other countries that could pose an opportunity to sell the flower to without needing an EU-GMP certification.
The flower is medical Marijuana with THC between 17%-27%. It was grown in a GACP facility. I’m open to selling it to any country with a medical program that would accept the product without requiring a GMP certification to import.
All right.
Then you will need to look for any country that is not affiliated with the EU EMEA partnership. That rules out Canada and Australia, plus all of the EU. Plus probably some of Europe that isn’t EU (like UK) which is still using EMEA.
That leaves you with countries importing in South America (Brazil comes to mind) as well as the Atlantic island states (there are many with programs).
However - I fail to see how trying to enter those markets would be MORE COST EFFECTIVE than just getting your EU-GMP Certificate. Getting a QP and having an inspector come out to check the facility and give you a clean bill of health would not cost very much.
If you already have your GACP - then you just need to handle the post harvest and drying steps. So - how you are packaging and labeling and where the materials are stored (and how) after that packaging and labeling. I assume you have those processes in place already.
So pick someone that you want to work with (I hear Australia is a good choice) or perhaps a group of someone’s (I’m looking at EU countries here, with limited supply options). And go for it. South Africa is already a part of the international harmonization group - so you could be able to qualify under that, if you tried.
Probably the hardest part is finding yourself a QP - if I was looking I’d start in Ireland or Australia to find myself one. They seem a bit more inclined to accept the realities of cannabis as medicine than medical professionals from other countries, in my opinion.
And of course I assume that you already have all the necessary documents from South Africa to produce and export medical cannabis.
Are you not interested in working with any of the large cannabis export trade groups and firms in South Africa? Have you already tried?
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