The newly formed Australian Cannabis Cultivators Guild, which represents a majority of the country’s licensed cannabis producers, recently sent a letter to the federal health minister warning that without the government’s assistance, the industry faces dire times in the near future.
Although some media in Australia have framed the issue as one specifically with cannabis coming from the Canadian market, Cade Turland, the director at Hale Farm in Tasmania, who is a member of the Guild, says the issue they are highlighting is one relating to all imports, not just Canada.
Growers like him in Australia, he says, can’t compete with products coming into the legal market from places like South Africa, Thailand, Colombia, Uruguay, Portugal, and Canada. Not only can these countries often produce at a lower price than Australian growers, but the regulatory burden in Australia adds to this financial imbalance.