PN demands answers on medicinal cannabis facility announcement

A spokesperson for the Opposition Nationalist Party has called for the government to explain whether it had authorised an Australian company to run a factory producing medicinal cannabis in Malta.

In a statement issued today Claudio Grech, Opposition spokesperson for the wellbeing of families and social solidarity asked whether it was true that the Government had allowed MXC (MGC pharma) to operate its facility and gifted it 4000sq m of public land through Malta Enterprise.

Yesterday the company announced that it had been given approval by Maltese government for full medical cannabis production and cultivation facility in Malta, a statement that seems to run counter to the prime minister’s previous claim that government was allowing “only small-batch cultivation for research purposes”.

The PN statement reminded government that “every letter of intent, licence or any other authorisation could only be issued under a law which hadn’t yet been approved by Parliament.” A law regulating medicinal cannabis has not yet been formally approved by parliament, although the Bill is on its third reading.

If  MXC’s statement is true, said the Opposition, this would mean that Government had defied the country’s highest institution on a particularly sensitive matter.

It called on the government to clarify as to whether it had issued a letter of intent, contract or authorisation to the company or others to carry out activity relating to the production of medicinal cannabis.