As government authorities come to grips with legislation of cannabis-based products, expanding rapidly year on year, the European market holds a key position.
The combination of population, GDP, nationalised healthcare, and cultural historic use in many countries makes Europe an attractive market for global producers of cannabis-based products, both medical and retail.
European standards are, therefore, now the benchmark to be achieved to facilitate market entry, and Europe has an opportunity to lead the way in establishing sensible regulatory systems that provide safe access to appropriate products while not unnecessarily burdening what have been historically widely consumed products.
The CBD explosion
Europe was the seat of the explosion of the now global CBD trend. While North America progressed medical cannabis legislation across its states over the last fifteen years, these have been high THC focused products based on modern indoor grown plant varieties. CBD was considered a scheduled substance and the cultivation of hemp was banned in the U.S. until this year, leaving a severe lack of high CBD genetics.
Brands like Endoca and Enecta were some of the first to establish a presence using online sales and social media channels to raise consumer awareness of the potential benefits of CBD, and they were particularly successful in countries like UK, Italy and Greece.
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