Cannabis Production Landscape in Greece Being hammered by ten years of financial crisis, the Greek economy has been witnessing the economic crisis with a 20% fall every year in the employment rate since the year 2012. The government of Greece has announced the approval of the conditional medical cannabis cultivation for the recreational and medicinal purposes and granted the license for medical cannabis cultivation in the Greek prefecture of Imathia. Greece is the sixth EU country to legalize the growing and use of marijuana for medical purposes. The rationale behind this legalization of the cultivation of marijuana is to attract investors from all over the world and increase the employment rate for the betterment of the economy. The law will also allow various start ups to comply with the specific reason to import certified cannabis seeds from third countries and other member-states in order to plant them in licensed farms. Greece's ideal climate and powerful sunlight are playing a comparative advantage for Cannabis Production. This is why ICC has opened its cannabis production hub here. With service and tourism sectors on the rise, and the highly supportive environment for a Mediterranean cannabis industry, Greece is catering to an influx of visitors and the increased employment rate.
Employment Opportunity The parliament of Greece has approved the law for the cannabis production, along with the manufacturing and sale of the cannabis medical products. This has paved a way for attracting investment from all over the world. The project that allows to process, cultivate, and export medical marijuana in Veroia (located in northern Greece) reveals the possible growth in the cannabis production house, even in the warm and dry climate. As per the statistics, the project would open up more than 2,000 jobs in the next three financial years, increasing the employment rate in the country. It would also be
responsible for attracting the investors from countries like Poland, Canada, Israel, and Kazakhstan. Being one of the favored tourist destinations, and the production hub for cannabis, the government of Greece has invested 400 million Euros ($488 million) to help it grow more. More importantly, the project has created more than 80% job opportunities in areas like trading, cultivation, and transport. It has also been presented as a great example of a thriving industry and a vital tool of economic stabilization for the country. Before the legalization of cannabis, the average monthly wages of workers hovered around $700. And now, the Marijuana Distribution industry can help the workers bring home salaries that would range between $80-100k per year, which is again the game changing factor in the Greece economy. The government of Greece is also taking the initiative to expand into recreational uses of cannabis when the time is right. Moreover, in case you are hoping to invest into this industry in Greece and do not want to bring talent from out of the country for the jobs, the Greek government is ready to help by providing local man-power. The government of Greece has taken up the initiative to to train as many people needed for the cannabis industry in order to start the new culture of marijuana distribution in Greece. According to the "European Cannabis Report," the European cannabis market has seen a huge growth in the country’s economy due to the cannabis production as compared to the previous five years. As a matter of fact, recently, five international companies have also expressed interest in pumping over 1 billion Euros into the country’s burgeoning sector. Furthermore, the political, economic and social catalysts would also help the growth of cannabis industries, as per the report of the legislation of medical cannabis. In short, the Greek economy would soon be on the top with these developments.
Medical Uses There is no denying to the fact that marijuana is usually prescribed for conditions like chronic pains, muscle spasms, PTSD, epilepsy, and cancer. Keeping this in mind, the parliament focuses on providing medical marijuana products to the Greek patients. With the draft bill envisioning a state monopoly regulated by the narcotics and health ministry for its supply and production, cannabis is only used for medical purposes in Greece.
How is ICC holding in Greece? Being one of the ICC’s southern European cultivation and production hub with a population of over 500 million people, Greece is providing ICC with a unique opportunity to offer their services in this high-growth marketplace. The tourism and service sectors amount to the majority of Greece’s economic output, contributing close to 85% of the annual gross domestic product. ICC is operating the southern part of Greece. It holds approximately 16 acres of land for the distribution, cultivation, extraction, as well as development and research work of medical cannabis. The distribution network is made up of nearly 35,000 pharmacies throughout 16 countries. Moreover, this network would complement the ICC Company’s Greek cultivation capabilities. In order to break the ground on the construction of three extraction, processing, and cultivation structures, ICC’s flagship 34,000-square-foot structure has developed a structure which would consist of the following: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Two separate, self-contained vegetation rooms; Irrigation control center; Waste, and destruction facility; Feed, and storage unit; Self-contained mother room; Screening room, reception area, four offices, a shipping and receiving bay; An electrical room, as well as a security room; Meeting rooms; Six separate, self-contained flower rooms; A self-contained clone room; Two separate, self-contained drying rooms;
More importantly, ICC also holds a secondary 3,000-square-foot structure for the marijuana distribution in Greece. This portion has the following: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Self-contained tissue culture lab; Proprietary carbon-dioxide and hydrocarbon extraction facility; Primary distribution bays; ADA bath facility, commercial food quality fridge, and commercial food quality freezer; Self-contained post production room; Main packaging facility; Commercial grade vault; Computer server room and compliance office.
ICC reserves the right to expand its laboratory footprint and cultivation in a discretionary nature in order to integrate the entire growing ecosystem with the specific requirements for each strain based on the bench, and room configurations.
Conclusion With a fascinating history and natural beauty, Greece is now attracting a sufficient number of investors for cannabis production. Marijuana distribution is providing a much broader, greener, economy that will allow smaller investors, and investment funds to enter the market of Europe for a better future. More importantly, this inevitable success of marijuana distribution in Greece will also work as a seed that would assist the industry to expand across Europe. ICC believes that Greece could be the next excellent Cannabis haven abroad. Along with this, they believe in building long-term relationships with government ministers and local officials. Hence, with the collaboration of ICC and Greece is revealing a unique opportunity to expedite the realization of the advantages of a legalized cannabis industry towards the economy.