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Poland is set to significantly increase the import cap on medical cannabis based on continually expanding demand in what is fast becoming one of Europe’s most exciting markets.
According to new documents seen by Business of Cannabis, the Polish Główny Inspektor Farmaceutyczny (Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate or GIF) says the estimated annual demand for medical cannabis in Poland has almost doubled.
As Poland, which legalised medical cannabis in 2017, is reliant on imports to supply its rapidly expanding medical cannabis market, the cap on import limits is set to be raised by over five tonnes.
Despite this, around half the country’s import permits remain unfulfilled, forcing businesses in a position to increase their level of supply to wait months, create major blockages in its current supply chain.
What happened?
In a response to a public information request submitted on September 20, 2024, the GIF stated that the estimated annual demand for cannabis in 2024 had been revised, increasing by 5,278,431g.
This means that the total amount of medical cannabis permitted to be imported into Poland this year has increased from the original 6 tonnes to just over 11 tonnes.
As such, medical cannabis businesses have already moved quickly to secure increased import permits to fulfil demand.
For instance, Hemp&Health, which first alerted Business of Cannabis to this change, has received six import permits via its affiliate THC Pharma SA to import a total of 299.99kg of medical cannabis into the country, valid for three months.
Rapid market growth
According to official figures from Poland’s Centrum e-Zdrowia (e-Health Centre), Poland’s medical cannabis market has exploded over the last few years.
Between 2019 and 2023, the amount of medical cannabis sold increased dramatically from 26,164 grams in 2019 to 2,578,777 grams in 2023, with 2023 showing a dramatic increase.
This was mirrored in terms of patient numbers, which also grew significantly from 1,698 to 90,297 over the time period.
These levels of growth represent a compound annual growth rate of 189.2% for patients numbers and 214.6% for the number of grams sold.
Year
Grams Sold
Patients
Sales Value (PLN)
2019
26,164
1,689
2,214,510
2020
67,098
3,448
4,645,672
2021
301,238
11,328
21,069,077
2022
795,454
36,013
64,269,478
2023
2,578,777
90,297
185,041,644
According to local news reports, this is reflected in the growing acceptance of medical cannabis across the country.
Public opinion continues to shift in favour of medical cannabis, seeing the treatment receive greater media coverage highlighting patient stories and making the distinction between medical and recreational cannabis clear.
E-prescriptions are also becoming increasingly common, meaning that limitations surrounding the shortage of prescribing doctors are largely mitigated.
However, as seen in Germany’s flourishing medical market, the growing prominance of e-prescriptions has driven a backlash among some politicians.
As Business of Cannabis reported in August, the Polish government is set to introduce stricter controls on the prescription of medical cannabis amid concerns that cannabis could be increasingly used for non-medical purposes.
The new proposals, which are still under discussion, would limit online prescriptions to ongoing treatments of up to three months and restrict the ability to prescribe controlled substances, including medical cannabis, to general practitioners only during these online consultations.
Supply chain blockages
Under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, countries in the EU can only import medical cannabis up to pre-approved limits based on estimated annual demand.
A quirk of this rule means that the amount of cannabis able to be imported to the country is artificially blocked by companies that receive import permits but fail to fulfill them.
According to Samorząd INFOR.pl, many importers only fulfil around 48% of their permits, and according to GIF only 33% of approved cannabis imports are confirmed as imported, indicating the slow implementation of permits or only partial fulfillment.
This means swathes of medical cannabis greenlit to enter the country via import permits actually makes it into the market, and as the import cap is already at capacity, it prevents other businesses from being granted permits.
Permit holders are required to declare the amount of cannabis they have actually imported after around four months, at which time the levels are revised, the overal limit can be revised and more cannabis can be imported.
In such a competitive market, businesses engage in practices aimed at securing the highest share of the market possible.
This reportedly often leads to businesses vastly overestimating the amount of cannabis they intend to import, which outpaces even the most optimistic figures for market demand.
Despite this, further data garnered from Prescription Fulfillment Documents show that less cannabis was dispensed in pharmacies than was imported last year, suggesting that there is a level of oversupply in the market.
“}]] Poland is set to significantly increase the import cap on medical cannabis based on continually expanding demand in what is fast becoming one of Europe’s most exciting markets. Read More