First African Company Gets EU Medical Cannabis License

Lesotho, the first African nation to allow cannabis cultivation for medical use, now also features the first African company to earn a medical cannabis exportation license from the EU.

MG Health, the country’s largest medicinal cannabis manufacturer, declared that it had passed EU GMP requirements, earning its license to export cannabis flower, oil, and extracts as active pharmaceutical ingredients. The first batch is expected to ship to Germany within the year.

Meeting Industry Standards

The GMP standards are the minimum specifications that a manufacturer or producer must meet in order to ensure that their goods are safe and reliable. The same standards are used in the regulation of food, pharmaceutical, and medical products.

Inspectors were unable to fly to Lesotho in June due to Covid-19 limitations, which stopped the organization from receiving accreditation last year. Accreditation, MG Health believes, would open doors to more EU countries and other foreign markets such as France, the United Kingdom, and Australia, who have expressed interest.

According to a study published in August 2020, the European cannabis industry is estimated to be worth $37 million (£26 million) by 2027.

Employment and Responsibility

MG Health employs 250 people on its 5,000 square meter property, which is located at 2,000 meters above sea level in the mountain region just outside Maseru’s capital. However, according to Nthabeleng Peete, the company’s community liaison manager, it expects to expand its workforce to 3,000 people, “which is almost the entire population of the community.”

“Corporate social responsibility, developmental projects will also take off and eventually reduce crime and poverty among the villagers,” hopes Peete.

“We are sitting in a rural area where there is hardly any income. More business for the company will create a knock-on effect on the locals too, because we also acquire some products and services from the villagers,” added MG Health CEO Andre Bothma. “Some supply us with vegetables, milk and beans, among other

. An increase in the workforce means an increase in the villagers’ income, too.”