An investigation by the Danish Parliament shows that 320,862 pounds of cannabis were destroyed

The Danish Parliament’s Health Committee recently said it had destroyed more than 145,541 kilograms (or about 320,862 pounds) of cannabis, measured by dry weight. According to a parliamentary inquiry response, the committee also issued 303 permits for the destruction of the plant material.

According to an email obtained by MJBizDaily, the cannabis destroyed comes exclusively from companies permitted to grow in Denmark under the pilot program. Any cannabis grown after growers receive approval to participate in the pilot program.

The pilot program “Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act” was passed by the Danish government in 2017 and came into force on January 1, 2018. “The purpose of the pilot program is to provide patients with a lawful opportunity to test medical cannabis treatment if they have not experienced benefit from approved medications. That is the intention of the program,” the Danish government explains on its website. It also states that the pilot program has an end date of December 31, 2025.

The country has granted 11 companies permission to produce cannabis products in Denmark: Aurora Nordic Cannabis A/S, DanCann Pharma A/S, Little Green Pharma Denmark ApS, MEDICAN A/S, Movianto Nordic ApS, Schroll Medical ApS, Sterigenics Denmark A /S , Tetra Pharm Technologies ApS, Valcon Medical A/S, Valeos Pharma A/S and Vertanical Denmark ApS. Everyone is authorized to grow or produce cannabis through one of four permits, including the pilot program permit, pharmaceutical manufacturing permit, plant propagation permit, and “development permit.”

The development permit “program”, as it is called on the Danish government’s website, also began on January 1, 2018. “Under this program, companies can apply for a permit for the cultivation and handling of cannabis in order to produce cannabis, that is suitable for medical purposes,” says the government. “Cannabis developed under the development program may not be used in the pilot program or for other medical purposes.”

The government explains that the development permit was created “…to give companies the opportunity to develop cultivation and production methods so that they are ready to apply for approval for the pilot project,” says an official document that was translated .

According to MJBizDaily, a spokesman for the Danish Medicines Agency explained that the 145,541 kilograms of cannabis destroyed is a total amount of cannabis that came from one of the four approval types and that there is no way to confirm how much of it was produced for the pilot program became special.

The Danish government agency did not confirm exactly why the cannabis was destroyed. The parliamentary inquiry only partially found defective productions, reject products including imported products and all cannabis grown under the development plan are also included in the stated quantity. All cannabis contained more than 0.2% THC.

The amount of cannabis destroyed in Denmark in 2023 was higher than ever before compared to previous years. In 2022, the amount of “lost or destroyed cannabis,” which is explicitly not related to the pilot program, was 10,753 kilograms (23,706 pounds), according to the Danish Medicines Agency.

Alternatively, in 2019, companies licensed under the medical cannabis pilot program in Denmark produced 2,112 kg (4,656 pounds) in 2019, 6,587 kg (14,521 pounds) in 2020 and 32,433 kg (71,502 pounds) in 2021, with figures for Have not yet been published in 2022.

Cannabis sales in Denmark have also continued to rise, with approximately 30.8 million kroner (~$2.8 million) in 2020, 64.3 million kronor (~5.9 million US$) in 2021 and 62 .5 million krone (~$5.8 million) in 2022.

The destruction of cannabis products is not uncommon in other countries either. Between January and December 2021, Canadian companies destroyed 425,325 kilograms (~937,681 pounds) of dried cannabis, as well as 40,454 kilograms (89,185 pounds) of extracts, 97,959 kilograms (21,5962 pounds) of edibles, and 3,940 kilograms (8,686 pounds). 100% worth of topicals – all categorized as “unpackaged.” According to Health Canada, packaged cannabis destroyed during the same period amounted to 3,576,232 units of dried cannabis, 1,118,148 units of extracts, 2,421,823 units of edibles and 15,359 units of topicals.

For Canada, reasons for product destruction include, but are not limited to: crop failure; Disposal of unusable plant material (e.g. stems) after harvest; recalled products; and elimination of unsold or returned products,” a Health Canada spokesperson told High Times.

In the US, destroyed cannabis data refers to the seizure and destruction of illegal cannabis. In May, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it had seized more than 5,581,839 cannabis plants – 90% of which came from California.

Earlier this month in Christiana, Denmark, a neighborhood community long associated with soft drug use, Copenhagen Mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen urged tourists to stop buying cannabis in the area to prevent violence . “The spiral of violence in Christiania is deeply worrying,” Andersen said, calling on “the hundreds of thousands of tourists and the many new foreign students who have just moved to Copenhagen to stay away and not to buy weed or other drugs on Pusher Street.” .” This response was due to a shooting that occurred in the area on August 26, which left a 30-year-old man dead.