MJBizcon in Las Vegas is the largest cannabis conference in the world, and the team behind it are coming to Denmark in May for their European Cannabis Symposium.
We spoke to President and founding Editor, Chris Walsh, to understand just what to expect in their first European foray.
The first thing we wanted to understand was why Copenhagen? Germany has the patients, the Netherlands has the product while Spain has the culture.
For Chris it’s all about the regulatory environment, “The government really wants to win here, they are trying to make Denmark a regional hub for cannabis.” The method by which the government is driving this is innovative yet cautious. Since 2011 Danish Doctors have been able to prescribe cannabis as ‘magisteral medicine’; any doctor can prescribe anything that she finds will medically benefit his patient if she takes the responsibility herself. She must provide a “recipe” for what the drug should contain and how it should be dosed. The pharmacy then produces the drug and handles it to the patient.
Of course, placing responsibility with doctors means that they are disincentivised to prescribe and so in 2018 Denmark began its four-year trial program to allow more prescriptions. According to Cannabis Danmark, the NGO in the purpose of the trial program is to ‘give patients a legal way to get treatment with medical cannabis if they have not had an ‘effect with approved medical drugs’. The intent of the trial program is to ‘gain information and a better foundation to be able to evaluate the use of medical cannabis.’
All of this exciting news for Danish Patients, researchers and business owners, with over 20 companies licenced via the trial program. Which brings us on to the next question, how will MJBIz’s first outing into Europe differ from its most well-known event, the MJBizCon in Vegas?
The most obvious difference will be that “there won’t be a tradeshow floor” with fewer companies, products and no adult use markets yet in Europe that’s not much of a surprise. There will also be a big focus on education, well suited to Europe’s status as an emerging market. To find out who will be there check out the list of exhibitors and sponsors here.
The Stop & Chat will be there as well so if you have any breaking stories to share get in touch!
The Stop and Chat 