A new cultivation lobbying group has formed in Australia and called for “urgent action” to “save the local medicinal cannabis cultivation industry from collapse”.
The Australian Cannabis Cultivators Guild, spearheaded by Hale Farm director Cade Turland, has sent a letter to federal health minister Mark Butler warning of “catastrophic failures across local cultivators” unless imports are restricted.
It calls for a “domestic-first” policy to be adopted which allows cultivators to “grow their permitted amounts”.
“This is a policy which is aligned with the International Narcotics Control Board rules, adopted by most other countries and should be supported by the Australian Government and enabled via the existing industry regulators,” the letter states.
A failure to act will result in a “bleak reality” of company failures and bankruptcies “which will impact Australian supply in the long term”.
The letter has been signed by multiple cultivators, including ECS Botanics, Tasmanian Botanics, Spring Sciences, Medicinal Harvest, Cann Group, Pharmacrop, Cannaponics, Medtec and Cymra Life Sciences.
While the letter and sentiments are likely to be shared by many in the local industry, the emergence of a newly-formed guild came as a surprise, with Emily Rigby, the chair of the Australian Cannabis Cultivators group, among those unaware of its launch.
One industry observer said: “It seems normal in the cannabis industry for someone to start a new group rather than work with one of the existing groups.”
Turland said he, and other growers, felt the need to inject a “collective energy and approach” to the problems facing the cultivation sector.
He said the guild will have a “hyper focus” on the local market.
“There needs to be an entity that just represents Australian growers,” he added.
