This month, medicinal cannabis organisation Cancard announced a collaborative project with Grow Lab Organics to enable a licensed medicinal cannabis farm to become a community owned endeavour, the first of its kind on the British Isle.
If you’re not familiar, Cancard™ is an ID card – designed with the help of doctors, backed by senior representatives of the Police Federation and made for patients. Despite cannabis medicines becoming legal in 2018, patients who are unable to afford a costly prescription are stuck in limbo. Cancard aims to bridge the gap between patients, doctors and the police. The card allows for the police to exercise discretion by understanding that the patient caught in possession is medicating for their condition, rather than using for recreational purposes.
Cannabis enthusiasts have been offered the opportunity to purchase shares in the company. In 30 days the campaign has reached over 4 million pounds with 10 days left remaining.
Today Cancard announced a further offer exclusively for cardholders that will mean for their early upgrade fee of £20, patients can assign themselves twenty company shares that will potentially make them a profit. This fee includes their next 12 months of Cancard membership, as well as a fully funded appointment with a medicinal cannabis clinic in order for prescriptions to be written under the guidance of a private clinician. A partnership between a prominent clinic and Cancard has allowed these appointments to be 100% free to the patient – as if accessing on the NHS.
The project has already been featured on the front page of the Financial Times and has attracted celebrity allies such as UFC’s Paddy Pimblett, music producer Wilkinson and Chase & Status’ Saul Milton, who said:
“As a medicinal cannabis patient and Cancard holder myself, I understand the challenges many in the community face every day. To date the legal market has been predominantly dominated by large players focused on making money rather than serving patients. GLO is doing something totally different, bringing together medical experts, scientists, the legacy market and patients in a model that is designed to enable the community to have safe and secure access to quality medicine whilst also furthering medical understanding of the capabilities of this plant. GLO will benefit all its stakeholders and that is why I am so excited to be involved in this project”
GLO is committed to producing the highest quality products using its craft organic growing methods at scale. Its licenced facility on the Isle of Man, will at full capacity operate 22 separate 200m2 flower rooms and six drying rooms, producing over 20 unique strains each year. Heat, energy and water are all recovered and recycled within the facility and even the plant stalks are turned into the product packaging.
GLO has built proprietary supply chain technology that will enable complete transparency for patients on how each plant has been grown and processed. This technology will also enable a feedback loop – providing unique insight for the wider medical community including the NHS on the impact of different strains on symptoms and conditions. The Isle of Man has a rich history of farming and agriculture and is the only nation to be designated a UNESCO Biosphere in its entirety, aligning with GLO’s commitment to the environment and sustainability.
Talking about GLO, Carly Barton, GLO Chief Community Officer and Cancard Director, said:
“Since medicinal cannabis was legalised five years ago, patients have continued to struggle to obtain quality products through the legal market. Not only is the calibre often very hit and miss, there are also only a handful of strains to choose from; which don’t suit everyone. However, access to this medication is life changing and essential to over a million people in the UK today. By opening equity and a seat at the table to the community, GLO is truly democratising a space that was unreachable for many. Now the community can get involved for the price of a twenty bag. Giving patients a voice is essential, this is potentially the most important thing we have done to date”
It’s clear that the GLO team are optimistic about the future and the benefits to the wider medical cannabis community. Commenting on the raise, CEO Alex Fray said:
“Medicinal cannabis has attracted a huge amount of investor interest in recent years as the sector develops rapidly. When we began the GLO journey, we recognised the importance of having investors who share our vision and values. We are committed to enabling the medicinal cannabis community, who sit at the heart of what we do, to have a voice and share in the opportunity as we begin to build our facility. Together with our proprietary technology, this collaboration provides a huge opportunity to open source learning that can be shared with patients and doctors, building further evidence for therapeutic value and making new discoveries.”
To take advantage of the offer, patients need to assign themselves their shares before the 19th July.