Australian medical pot company AusCann Group Holdings is manipulating a legal loophole that could enable the weed firm to grow up to ten tonnes (1.10 U.S. tons) of medicinal marijuana on nearby Norfolk Island, located in the Pacific Ocean between Oz, New Zealand and New Caledonia.
Though cannabis is prohibited in Australia, Norfolk’s administration is self-governing and can grant a license for the legal cultivation and exportation of cannabis.
AusCann chairman Mal Washer told the Australian Associated Press that although his company must still receive final approval from the administrator of Norfolk Island, he is optimistic that such sanction will be forthcoming.
AusCann plans to grow anywhere from one to ten tonnes of medi-pot to be exported to Canada—where medical marijuana is legal—because the country has experienced difficulties providing sufficient and efficacious medicinal weed to its own citizens.
Norfolk Island was selected as an ideal ganja grow site due to its climate and off-shore locale, though a security firm has been contracted to solidify protection of the cannabis gardens. An ancillary benefit for the Norfolk community would be an increase in both employment and generated revenue through export fees.
Upon Norfolk administration approval, AusCann is scheduled to deliver their first shipment of medicinal marijuana to Canada in 2016.
