The situation in Japanese cannabis growing as a mirror image of the problems of the national market

The processes taking place in Japan in the field of regulating the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant painfully resemble the situation in this area of ​​management and in our country. Japanese cannabis growers are constantly raising the question before government officials about the need to regulate the use of the therapeutically active properties of the hemp plant for industrial purposes (food, cosmetics, various additives), focusing on the inadmissibility of shifting the emphasis on the use of the medicinal / health-improving properties of hemp exclusively in the field of pharmacology. The same aspects are emphasized by representatives of the profile association of Ukrainian cannabis growers, who insist that pharmacology based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis is just one, and not the most basic segment of the use of the therapeutic properties of the plant and government officials of Ukraine need to pay attention to the huge market, which opens to national producers, in the case of regulation of the legality of the use of leaves and inflorescences of technical hemp of therapeutic orientation used for industrial purposes, excluding extraction.

Over the past few years in Japan, there has been a fierce controversy aimed at regulating the possibilities of using the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant. In what directions are the normative legal acts that regulate the use of the medicinal properties of leaves and inflorescences of hemp in the "Land of the Rising Sun" and how the situation in the state, which is the "homeland of anime", is extremely similar to the national hemp market specializing in similar issues, let us summarize understand below.

Officials from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said they would soon lift the ban on drugs based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis. In particular, officials of the aforementioned ministry said that they would lift the country's ban on all drugs based on the hemp plant, thereby clearing the way for the production and sale of relevant drugs by pharmaceutical manufacturers in accordance with the procedures provided for by state licensing. This kind of position of the ministry became possible after a group of experts discussed this topic, which was instructed to study the problems of cannabis growing in the country.

Immediately after this kind of statement from government officials, companies that specialize in the use of the therapeutic properties of cannabis in the food, cosmetic industry or the production of various kinds of additives (dietary, food, biologically active, etc.) raised the question in the media about whether that government officials should not dwell on issues related to the regulation of exclusively dosage forms of the use of the hemp plant and did not forget that the use of hemp leaves and inflorescences as a tasty and healthy ingredient for food, in the formulation of cosmetic preparations or various kinds of additives (food , dietary, biologically active, etc.) provides buyers with a much better result, which is several times cheaper than pharmacological preparations can give a similar effect. 

In particular, according to Yosuke Koga, director of the Japanese company specializing in the production of hemp "Prossimo", entering the market earlier than other areas of modern cannabis growing, first of all, foreign pharmaceutical companies certainly receive significant advantages over the national Japanese producers of hemp raw materials and final products. which have significant therapeutic potential. That is why the pharmaceutical market needs to create conditions under which pharmaceutical firms can operate exclusively in the market for the use of the therapeutic properties of cannabis used for medical purposes. In particular, Mr. Koga emphasizes that this kind of change in the position of government officials in the country is most likely the result of preparations for the introduction of a high cannabidiol (CBD) drug Epidiolex on the Japanese market. 

According to the head of Prossimo, in the event that Japanese officials move beyond the medical use of cannabidiol and form an appropriate regulatory framework in order to open up markets for food and cosmetics that include CBD, regulating the presence of various types of goods on the market made from the leaves and inflorescences of a plant with tremendous therapeutic properties, the opportunities for the aforementioned sectors of modern cannabis production in Japan can be enormous. “This change will open the door wide for foreign brands containing cannabidiol in the world's oldest society,” says Koga.

“The approval for the use of hemp-based pharmaceuticals is good news for patients and paves the way for research and the production of raw materials, but the country's cannabis growers are eagerly awaiting changes to the current legislation regulating the use of the therapeutic properties of technical hemp,” the statement said. Harumi Kikuchi of the Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association, released immediately following a statement from Japanese Ministry of Health officials. 

Japanese cannabis growers are pushing for changes to clarify the definition of low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) technical hemp under Article 1 of the Japanese Cannabis Control Law. According to Mr. Kikuchi, the government of the country for some reason ignores such demands from the national cannabis growers. In particular, according to Harumi Kikuchi, if this issue is not resolved during the work of the expert committee, "the opportunity to develop our hemp industry will be lost." 

It is necessary to focus on the fact that the specialists of the Japanese hemp market focus on the fact that hemp plant varieties must be classified not only according to the THC content, but also by the end use, while for each category of hemp raw materials it is necessary to develop separate rules for working with them on market. It was these proposals that were presented among the recommendations of the Hokkaido Industrial Hemp Association for consideration by the representatives of the expert committee in early 2021.

Commentary of the specialists of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

In 2019, Epidiolex was approved for clinical trials in Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun regulation for cannabis is based on regulating the use of those parts of the plant that can be processed, rather than the content of THC. According to the current regulations, at the moment only products obtained from hemp stalks and seeds can be sold in the mill.

All hemp-based medicines are currently banned in Japan, but some doctors have circumvented current legislation by using therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant to treat various diseases, while insisting on changes to the current regulatory framework. Japanese government officials, noting the change in public sentiment and the regulatory framework in a number of economically developed countries, formed a group of experts in early 2021, which was to formulate a position on the direction in which it is necessary to amend the current state legislation.

The processes taking place in Japan in the field of regulating the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of the hemp plant painfully resemble the situation in this area of ​​management and in our country. Japanese cannabis growers are constantly raising the question before government officials about the need to regulate the use of the therapeutically active properties of the hemp plant for industrial purposes (food, cosmetics, various additives), focusing on the inadmissibility of shifting the emphasis on the use of the medicinal / health-improving properties of hemp exclusively in the field of pharmacology. The same aspects are emphasized by representatives of the profile association of Ukrainian cannabis growers, who insist that pharmacology based on the therapeutic properties of cannabis is just one, and not the most basic segment of the use of the therapeutic properties of the plant and government officials of Ukraine need to pay attention to the huge market, which opens to national producers, in the case of regulation of the legality of the use of leaves and inflorescences of technical hemp of therapeutic orientation used for industrial purposes, excluding extraction.