Australia Becomes 4th Country to Legalize Medical Marijuana Exportation

Australia legalized medical marijuana in 2016, and just decided to legalize the exportation of medical marijuana products, making it the fourth country in the world to do so.

Niv Dagan of Peak Asset Management estimates that Australia’s medical marijuana market could quadruple to $1 billion by 2020, according to CNBC.

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said, “We’d like to be potentially the world’s number one supplier.”

Share prices of Australian marijuana companies drastically rose with the news.

Canada and Germany could be big markets for Australia’s marijuana producers, according to Peter Crock of Cann Group. Shares in Cann Group soared 35% upon news of Australia legalizing medical marijuana exports.

Grand View Research reported in 2017 that the global medical marijuana market could reach $55 billion by 2025.

Hunt said, “Our goal is to ensure that Australian producers have every opportunity to be the number one producers of the highest-grade medical cannabis in the world.”

The new medical marijuana policy is expected to go into effect in February 2018.

Nations choosing to import or export medical marijuana have to report every trade made with the UN International Narcotics Control Board.