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Harmonizing Global Cannabis Regulations Could Unlock Billion-Dollar Markets

Written by Johnny Green on . Posted in Business, Policy.

The emerging legal cannabis industry is governed by a layered patchwork of local, regional, and international laws and regulations. At best, the situation is chaotic and confusing, and at worst, it sets entrepreneurs and investors up for failure with many public policies at one level of government directly conflicting with public policies at other levels.

As many advances as the legal cannabis industry has made in recent decades, and how large the industry has become, it still has a long way to go to reach its full potential. In fact, no legal market has reached its full potential anywhere on the planet, and it will stay that way until global cannabis industry regulations are harmonized.

To a large degree, the cannabis industry is still comprised of siloed local markets. There are exceptions, of course, with more countries allowing medical cannabis product exports and imports. However, many markets still prohibit all cannabis commerce, and many others only permit domestic commerce.

Even in markets that are legal and permit cannabis imports and exports in addition to domestic commerce, such as in Canada, the market is still hindered by international agreements. Technically, non-medical cannabis legalization “contravenes the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs” according to the United Nations, and that alone creates significant hurdles for operators in all legalized markets.

Harmonizing global cannabis regulations was at the center of an insightful panel presentation at the recent International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin. The panel, moderated by Benjamin Patock, International Relations at Boveda, discussed how modernized international regulations could unlock billion-dollar markets. Mr. Patock was joined on the panel by:

  • Götz Schneider-Rothhaar, Partner at SKW Schwarz
  • Jonathan Havens, Co-chair of Saul Ewing’s Cannabis Law and Food and Beverage Practices and the firm’s Baltimore Office Managing Partner
  • Atiyyah Ferouz, Founder and CEO of AGCann
  • Sebastien Beguerie, founder of Alpha-Cat, Kanavape, and Golden Buds
  • Frederik Bockslaff, Founder and Partner at NIMROD Rechtsanwälte

You can watch the panel discussion at this link here.