Australia’s medicinal cannabis industry came a step closer to having a unified voice this week after Medicinal Cannabis Industry Australia (MCIA) and the Medical Cannabis Council (MCC) announced plans to collaborate.
The arrangement will see joint investment in projects including a concept plan for a patient/doctor special interest group. MCC members will join MCIA working groups and MCC founding director Carol Ireland will join the MCIA board, representing consumer and MCC member interests.
Both not-for-profit organisations, the MCIA was established in 2018 for Australia’s licensed medicinal cannabis industry covering all the activities of licence holders including research, cultivation, manufacturing and interaction with patients, the medical profession and communities.
“It builds on the complimentary strengths of our two organisations while respecting and retaining the presence, membership and unique strengths of each.”
MCIA and MCC joint statement
The MCC was founded a year earlier with the aim of creating a single unified voice for the Australian medical cannabis industry representing cultivators, manufacturers, distributors, ancillary organisations, researchers, educators and not-for-profit advocacy groups.
A statement said the move “will deliver benefits for members, the industry and, most importantly, patients… through a stronger and more representative voice, better use of member resources, enhanced services across advocacy, education, industry standards/processes and networking, and wider recognition across Government and the community.”
It said the two organisations are already strongly aligned in vision, purpose and activities. It added: “It builds on the complementary strengths of our two organisations while respecting and retaining the presence, membership, and unique strengths of each.”
The arrangement will be reviewed over the next few months to identify further benefits.
Read the full statement here.