July 25 (SeeNews) - The Albanian parliament passed a law regulating the cultivation, production and distribution of cannabis and its by-products for medical and industrial purposes, it said.
“A national agency for the control of cannabis has been established. All the conditions for the aspects of granting licences and permits are provided within defined and consulted criteria,” health minister Ogerta Manastirliu told parliament last week, according to a press release published by parliament.
To acquire a 15-year licence for cannabis cultivation, processing and trading, the operator or the owner of at least 51% of its shares must be engaged in making cannabis by-products in one of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Mexico, Greece, Canada, Japan, Israel, the U.S., Italy, Denmark, Poland, Australia, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Spain, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the UK and Hungary.
The new law bans advertising and PR promotion of any kind on cannabis products and by-products that contain more than 0.2% of the psychoactive component tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), documents published last year by the health ministry in Albania’s e-register of public notifications and consultations show.