Macedonian PM expects €100mn investments into medical cannabis production

Macedonian PM expects €100mn investments into medical cannabis production
NYSK Holdings’s medical cannabis production facility is in the huge, deserted complex of the long-idled Ohis chemical plant near Skopje.
By Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje April 30, 2018

Macedonia's Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Zaev expects that €100mn will come into the country for flourishing business to produce of cannabis for medical use, media reported on April 27.

Medical cannabis products were legalised in Macedonia by the former conservative VMRO-DPMNE government in 2016, and cannabidiol (CBD) hemp oils are already for sale in local pharmacies

Zaev said that his government awarded seven licenses for the production of cannabis oil and four to five others are in the procedural stage, in addition to one awarded by the previous government, according to A1on.

Zaev also admitted in the parliament, answering an MP's question, that his cousin Trajce Zaev has entered this business, and bought greenhouse for cannabis production from the Mam company.

The new owners of Mam are Elinica, a firm from Strumica in Macedonia, and a Slovenian company which has factories for production of medical cannabis in Germany and Poland.

Currently 30 people are employed in the firm in Sveti Nikole, where the production facility is located, but their number is expected to reach 130. The initial investment is €3mn.

Zaev expects more investments in this sector and urged all people who have resources to invest in this profitable business.

He also expects Macedonia to export dried cannabis for the production of oil in Poland and Germany.

Macedonian drug company Replek was the first in the country which started marketing this product, followed by US-owned NYSK Holding, which has a factory in the deserted complex of the long-idled Ohis chemical plant in Skopje.

Cannabis for medical purposes is also produced in central town of Krusevo.

Competition in the field of production of medical cannabis in Macedonia is increasing rapidly as new companies are interested in entering the high-potential market. 

The bill amending the law on control of narcotic drugs, which regulates the production, processing and sales of cannabis-based products, was adopted by the Macedonian assembly on February 22, 2016, with support from both government and opposition MPs. At the same time as legalising medical marijuana, it clamped down on cultivation, dealing and possession of the street drug. 

The newcomers to Macedonia, local and foreign, are expected to offer a wider range of products, particularly for cancer patients looking for better forms of pain relief, as well as those suffering from AIDS, multiple sclerosis and childhood epilepsy.

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