Germany received its first imports of medicinal cannabis from Portugal and Australia this week. Two German companies took delivery of the shipments that will be used for testing purposes and to supply the country’s growing demand for medical marijuana, which was legalized in 2017.

In Cologne, Cannamedical Pharma received a commercial shipment of cannabis from a company in Portugal. Although the company did not identify the shipper, last month Tilray Portugal announced that it had come to an agreement with Cannamedical to export medicinal cannabis to Germany.

“The European market is clearly developing its ability to grow and ship world-class medicinal cannabis products, which is an important step in the development of the EU medicinal cannabis market, which we believe will be the world’s largest. Cannamedical continues to demonstrate that our approach as the leading independent importer of finding the best products in all supply markets to serve to our patients can establish milestones within the industry,” said David Henn, the CEO of Cannamedical.

“We are proud of the contribution we are making to provide a stable supply of medicinal cannabis to patients in Germany and thankful for our world-class supply partners,” he added.

The medical marijuana received by Cannamedical will be packaged in Germany and should be ready for patients beginning in mid-October.

Samples From Australia Also Received

In Frankfurt, Cansativa received a sample shipment of medical cannabis oils for testing purposes. The cannabis oil was produced in Australia, which legalized medical marijuana in 2016, by the company Little Green Pharma. Benedikt Sons, the co-managing director of Cansativa, said in a press release that the company was adding additional suppliers to meet the growing demand for medical marijuana in Germany.

“Our new partner in Australia helps us to tackle the growing supply problems in the German market and secure the amount of deliveries necessary to meet the increasing demands by the patients,” said Sons. “This is an important step in ensuring security of supply for patients in Germany.”

In April, Cansativa announced that it was the first German company authorized to import cannabis from Uruguay and Colombia. The first samples from Uruguay have already been received by the company and the initial delivery from Colombia is expected soon.

“Cansativa has aggregated a lot of know-how over the last year regarding process reliability, dealing with authorities, market structure, competition, and the necessary legal expertise. Just recently we successfully imported our first samples from Uruguay,” Sons added. “With the Australian import, we once again underscore our ambition to provide security of supply through global sourcing. As a first mover of the whole industry, we make our contribution to a more professional and reliable market.”

Germany has relied on imports of medical marijuana from countries including Canada and the Netherlands since legalizing the medicinal use of cannabis two years ago. Domestic cultivators have been licensed by the government, but the initial harvests from them are not expected until late 2020.

Faced with a worsening epidemic of teenage vaping and a mysterious illness stalking users of cigarette alternatives, the Trump administration promised to ratchet up its oversight of a burgeoning but increasingly troubled industry.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that vaping had become an urgent public-health concern in the U.S., “specifically with respect to children.” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters that 5 million kids say they’ve vaped this year, a steep and startling jump from the 3.6 million who told government surveyors they’d used e-cigarettes in 2018.

“We may very well have to do something very, very strong about it,” Trump, flanked by Azar and Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Ned Sharpless, told reporters in the White House Oval Office.

Vaping has been touted as a safe and effective way for adult smokers to quit their cigarette habits, and investors have poured billions of dollars into the business. But a combination of candy-like flavorings, sleek electronic devices and on-trend social-media marketing have also lured kids. The jarring rate at which teens have adopted devices like the compact, easy-to-hide one made by Juul Labs Inc. has made health officials in Washington and around the country snap to attention.

Additionally, vaping appears to be making more and more people sick. A mysterious lung disease that has been linked to inhaling vapor has killed six people and injured hundreds more people across the U.S. this summer. State and federal investigators are racing to identity the precise cause of the ailment.

Azar said the FDA would issue guidance in coming weeks intended to clamp down on the sale of almost all flavored vaping products. The U.S. health agency has been moving deliberately in regulating the industry, but the stunning increase in vaping by school-age children has increased public pressure for regulators to step in.

Under the changes previewed by Azar, flavored vaping products with the exception of tobacco-flavored offerings would be removed from the market within 30 days. Producers of other flavors would then have to apply to resume sales. To gain FDA approval, an e-cigarette manufacturer must prove that the benefits of its product outweighs the risks, including the potential for underage vapers to pick up the habit.

Big Business

The FDA had been looking to limit most flavored e-cigarette product sales, excluding mint and menthol, to online sales with age verification and vaping shops.

Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb originally viewed e-cigarettes as a possible way to help adult smokers quit and sought in 2017 to ease regulation on them, pushing back to 2021 the date vape manufacturers would have to apply for agency approval to stay on the market. The deadline was moved up to May 2020 by a judge in July who also ruled e-cigarettes could stay on the market for a year while FDA reviews their application.

The agency guidance announced Wednesday instead would require vape devices to come off the market soon and await FDA clearance.

Cigarette alternatives, including vaping pens, have become a big business. Juul Labs, which has the biggest share of the U.S. market for e-cigarettes, is one of the country’s most richly valued closely held startups. Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. last year invested about US$13 billion in Juul at a valuation of approximately US$35 billion. Altria shares ended higher after a brief slide, gaining 1.1 per cent to US$44.72.

“We agree that urgent action is needed and we look forward to reviewing the guidance,” Steven Callahan, a spokesman for Altria, said. “Reducing youth use of e-vapor products is a top priority for Altria.”

Juul voluntarily pulled many of its flavors, with the exception of mint and menthol, out of stores already in response to the youth vaping epidemic. Juul didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Juul’s marketing tactics have drawn growing scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers. The FDA sent Juul a warning letter Monday that said the agency had determined that the company has marketed its products as less risky than cigarettes without gaining the agency’s approval. A Juul representative said then that the company was reviewing the letter and would cooperate with the agency.

Stricken Vapers

Around the U.S. this summer, doctors have seen hundreds of cases where patients — often youthful, previously healthy adults — have shown up in the emergency room, suddenly stricken with dangerous respiratory damage. More than 450 cases of the respiratory condition were reported as of Sept. 6, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The severity of the cases vary.

The links between that disease and vaping nicotine haven’t been firmly established. Some health officials have connected the ailment to inhaling vapor tinted with THC, the chemical that creates the high from smoking marijuana. Regulators have said some users reported inhaling vapor of THC or CBD, another compound found in pot.

Vaping’s link to youth use and the lung illnesses has led to a growing call among lawmakers to crack down on the devices. Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, tweeted Tuesday that the FDA “should consider recalling e-cigarettes.”

Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, also told FDA’s Sharpless last week to better regulate e-cigarettes within 10 days or the lawmaker would call for his resignation.

“Finally, the FDA is doing its job,” Durbin said in a statement Wednesday.

Still, some observers worried that the shift could harm the health of people trying to quit tobacco. Daren Bakst, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, said the move will make it harder to adults to stop smoking regular cigarettes by restricting the alternatives.

“The last thing you want to do is make it more difficult for smokers to quit smoking, and flavors do play a role for adults to quit smoking,” Bakst said in an interview. “The more options you have, the better for them to quit.”

Sickness’s Source

Congress gave the FDA the authority to oversee tobacco in 2009. The agency began policing cigarettes then, but it didn’t add e-cigarettes to its portfolio until 2016. According to a statement from HHS, the FDA plans to make more details of the plan and its implementation public soon.

The CDC has said anyone who uses a vape device should consider stopping while public-health officials investigate the cause of the condition. The public-health agency said on Friday that the lung-injury cases were appearing most often in people who used vaping products containing THC.

State health officials in New York have pointed to vitamin E acetate as a likely culprit. While thought to be harmless when used as a nutritional supplement, it could carry risks when inhaled and has been found in some products, said New York health officials.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, has campaigned and given money in support of a ban on flavored e-cigarettes and tobacco.

American industrial hemp growers will be eligible for crop insurance under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) starting in 2020. Those firms and farmers who grow hemp for fiber, flower or seeds will be eligible beginning with next year’s crops, under the recently announced program. The insurance coverage is through USDA’s Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) program, under the Department’s Risk Management Agency (RMA).

“Producers are anxious for a way to protect their hemp crops from natural disasters,” RMA Administrator Martin Barbre said. “The WFRP policy will provide a safety net for them. We expect to be able to offer additional hemp coverage options as USDA continues implementing the 2018 Farm Bill.” The Bill, passed last December, essentially legalized hemp as an agricultural crop at the federal level.

Up to $85 million

WFRP allows coverage of all revenue for commodities produced, up to a maximum of $8.5 million. The Department said the program is popular for specialty crops, organic commodities, and non-traditional crops. 

The 2018 Farm Bill amended the Controlled Substances Act to define hemp as containing 0.3% or less tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on a dry weight basis, clearing the way for the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to offer policies protecting those who farm it.  

WFRP provisions state that hemp having THC above the compliance level will not be insured. Additionally, hemp will not qualify for replant payments under WFRP, USDA said.

Growing up part of the Chinese-Canadian community, the prevailing attitude my seniors had towards cannabis was always the same – it’s addictive, and it will ruin your life.

And now that we’re in a post-legalization Canada, Chinese-Canadians are still hesitant to challenge this perspective.

The Canadians who emigrated here from China grew up under a government with a vocal anti-cannabis stance, often condemning it as a dangerous influence from foreign cultures.

China cracks down

In July 2019, 19 foreign teachers and students in China were arrested after being tested positive for drug use in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, leading to a nationwide discussion on Chinese social media, with some calling for a crackdown on “unqualified” and “immoral” teachers from abroad.

This event followed a 2018 government announcement that it would double down on its anti-cannabis stance, issuing a public letter to Chinese citizens to avoid contact with cannabis in light of the recent wave of recreational and medical cannabis legalization spreading across Canada and within several U.S. states.

The government then went on to blame these countries for the recent spike in drugs being smuggled across their border, describing it as a “new threat to China.”

Liu Yuejin, the deputy director of the China National Narcotics Control Commission, said cannabis users in China increased more than 25 percent in 2018, intercepting 115 packages sent through international postal parcels containing 55 kilograms of cannabis and cannabis products.

One package recipient, a student, told China National Radio he became addicted to cannabis while living in Canada.

The Chinese media company Global Times said that some parents had begun calling for a “nationwide inspection” on the qualifications of foreign teachers.

Liu said most of the parcels they’d intercepted were connected to foreign students and Chinese nationals, who had returned from living abroad. An article on Foreignpolicy.com sums up Liu’s warnings to readers about the types of friends who “create a cannabis culture” of hedonism.

Foreign teachers and students weren’t the only ones hit by government raids, according to that same article. Several foreign-owned restaurants, cafés, and bars had to shut down after their owners were visited in their homes by officers in the middle of the night, demanding drug tests and deporting anyone from the country who failed to pass them.

Possession, sale, and cultivation of THC cannabis are strictly prohibited in China, with the maximum penalty for growing up to 3,000 cannabis plants of five years in jail. Under Chinese criminal law, being found with even a small amount can lead to being detained for up to 15 days. Anyone with more than 5 kilograms of processed marijuana leaves can face the death penalty.

Ancient China’s secret cannabis history

China didn’t always have such a strong anti-cannabis stance. In fact, for thousands of years, it was widely known as one of the world’s largest producers. Some of the earliest archeological evidence of hemp usage dates back to China in 10,000 B.C.

The historical evidence points to the plant being used in China for rope, clothing, bowstrings, and medicine. It’s also thought to have been used in the earliest forms of Chinese paper.

The ancient emperor Sheng-Nung, also known as the father of Chinese Medicine, listed the cannabis plant in his medical encyclopedia. He used it to treat menstruation, constipation, and absentmindedness. In the second century A.D., Chinese surgeon Hua T’o began combining cannabis resin with wine to reduce pain during surgery.

In 1985, the government signed the United Nations Convention of Psychotropic substances, leading to the ban of all hemp cultivation.

However, as it was important for producing rope and textiles, the government began regulating hemp production in Yunnan in 2003, and largely ignored its illegal production in other provinces.

In 2014, the Ministry of Public Security found an abundance of unregistered hemp plantations in the provinces of Jilin and Inner Mongolia.

Many cannabis farms were also found to belong to remote farmers in the province of XinJiang, home of the Muslim Uyghurs, an ethnic minority whose treatment by the Chinese government has been the focus of recent international media scrutiny.

But in recent years, the government had a change of heart, legalizing and regulating the country’s vast and previously largely unregulated hemp production. Hemp seeds and oil, and the use of CBD in cosmetics, are all now permitted.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the Chinese hemp industry currently accounts for about half the world’s legal hemp cannabis cropland.

Despite this, the government holds steadfast on its hardline position against recreational cannabis. This stance is reflected in the stigma that many Chinese nationals have towards the drug.

The beginning of China’s cannabis stigma

“I feel very angry and very shocked,” world-famous actor Jacky Chan wrote in response to the detention of his son, Jaycee Chen, who tested positive for marijuana use in 2014.

As an official narcotics Control Ambassador for the Chinese Police, Jackie Chan said that “as a public figure, I’m very ashamed. As a father, I’m heartbroken.”

Chan voiced his support of the use of the death penalty for some drug offenders, saying that they were hurting “thousands and thousands of young children.”

He added that he doesn’t agree with the many young people, who “think it’s just like a cigarette.”

“I say it’s not okay, not in my family,” said Chan.

Chan’s reaction to this event reflects the stigma that many people of his generation in China have towards recreational cannabis drug use, especially within their own families.

When a Chinese-Canadian friend of mine tried to get their parent’s opinions on legalization, their opposition to it was clear.

They couldn’t believe the government was going to allow its citizens to open access such a harmful and addictive substance.

When she pressed them further about their opinion, she realized that they had been confusing cannabis with crack cocaine.

This is a misconception that I’ve found is held by many members of the senior Chinese community.

To understand how this ignorance, and general attitude towards the drug, became so prevalent, you must look back to the mid-1800s, a period known in the country as the “Century of Humiliation.”

The Opium War: Sparking one hundred years of loss and shame

In the early 19th century, tea, porcelain, and silk were in high demand in Great Britain. Luckily for China, who had an abundance of all these products, this resulted in a trade imbalance that left Great Britain struggling to find a way to tip the scales in their favor.

British traders found their solution in opium. They began supplying the illegal and addictive substance to China, where its use had become rampant. Estimates show that opium had up to 12 million users during this period.

By the 1830s, opium was China’s largest foreign imported product. This tilted the trade imbalance over into Britain’s favor.

China, whose trade routes were exclusively bottlenecked through the province of Canton, decided to imprison the British opium merchants until they agreed to give up their entire season’s supply of opium.

This conflict resulted in the beginning of the Opium War, which China eventually lost. They were forced to cede control of some of their land to the British, most notably, Hong Kong island. This was the beginning of what is known as the Century of Humiliation.

Two decades later during the Second Opium War, China faced-off and lost against the French, the British, and the Americans. This ended in the destruction of the Chinese Summer Palace – known by some as “China’s Ground Zero.”

To this day, the Chinese government encourages its citizens to visit this area to be reminded of the dangers posed by foreign invasion.

China continued to face defeat at the hands of Germany, Japan, and Russia, all of whom were looking for their share of China’s vast empire. China lost over one-third of its territory, and tens of millions of citizens.

This grim 104 year-period of Chinese history wouldn’t end until China emerged victorious as one of the four allied nations to win World War II.

Subsequent Chinese governments decided to focus on modernization and industrialization in order to keep that situation from ever happening again.

It also marked the beginning of their harsh anti-narcotic policies. These stringent laws are harshly enforced, with 470 executions in 2008 related to drug charges.

The tables turn as a new trade imbalance emerges

“When I hear about marijuana legalization, I think of the opium war,” Doris Siu, a Chinese-Canadian told the South China Morning Post. “I know there’s a difference, but this war made society unproductive and people lost everything and China went into a huge economic decline.”

No matter how widely accepted this drug becomes across Canada and beyond, I don’t imagine I will be lighting up in China any time soon. However, this doesn’t mean their government isn’t looking into the plant’s commercial potential.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, Chinese firms have filed 309 of the world’s 606 cannabis patents. CBD and hemp producers across China are setting their sights on overseas markets.

Prohibition Partners, a cannabis consulting firm, published a report saying that China’s hemp market would be worth US$1.6 billion in 2018.

Hemp Investment Group, a Beijing based company advocating for commercial cannabis use, has partnered with the People’s Liberation Army to export their products internationally, including a drug to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The company’s president, Tan Xin, believes the sector will grow into a 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion) industry within 5 years.

This estimate runs short of the US$15 billion estimate by 2024 from Jamie Gibson of Regent Pacific Group, the chief executive of Hong Kong-based investment company Regent Pacific Group.

Regardless of whether the market reaches these lofty predictions, one thing is certain: China is determined to create a trade imbalance once again in their favor.

Just don’t expect them to grow your weed and smoke it too.