Serbian gangsters are investing in the business of growing medical cannabis in Macedonia
Historically, the Republic of North Macedonia has been a place of transit for drug dealers, weapons, human beings and has also been a country of passage for the sale of high-quality hashish from Turkey. Cannabis has been cultivated in northern Macedonia since the time of ancient Greece.
But it is not a country known especially as a marijuana grower since it has great competition with cannabis grown outside in neighboring Albania. However, the reality is that high-quality varieties of cannabis are cultivated in the Republic of North Macedonia that are very effective in treating chronic pain, reducing anxiety and depression and increasing serotonin.
In 2016, the Republic of North Macedonia changed its Policy for the Control of Opioid Drugs and Psychotropic Substances so that medical cannabis was legal and available to those in need. This makes North Macedonia one of the few countries in the world that allows the cultivation and export of marijuana, a circumstance that is very attractive for entrepreneurs and investors.
The Macedonian pharmaceutical cannabis market is currently valued at more than 165 million dollars per year. Interestingly, Macedonia imports more than 50% of its medical products, but the country does not want to import cannabis since its intention is to become a great export leader of the medicinal version of this plant.
The cultivation of cannabis is a historical legacy of northern Macedonia. 70% of the Macedonians were in favor of the legalization of the plant for medical purposes. This high percentage of people in favor of the legalization of medical cannabis is due to several public campaigns coordinated by cannabis activists.
The country has decided to adopt a free market approach to the cultivation, distribution and sale of cannabis, following the model of Canada, which allows private companies to grow and distribute the plant in the country, and the government invites people to invest, with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev being very aware of its profitability.
But Serbian gangsters have the same opinion about the profitability of the medical cannabis business. For a long time they have been producing marijuana illegally and have now decided to take their share of the pie in the new legal cannabis industry in Macedonia since Prime Minister Zoran Zaev called for people to invest in this recently legalized crop.
The Serbian intelligence service says that at least five Mafia people in this country have entered the cannabis cultivation business in Macedonia, and one of them has invested tens of millions of Euros. According to the law promoted by Zaev, whose personal companies are also already growing cannabis, it is legal to produce oil from the plant for medicinal purposes. The Balkans are also a major producer of marijuana used for smoking, whose final destination is the countries of the European Union, and it is feared that the legalization of cannabis oil leads to illegal smuggling.
According to the intelligence service, some of the Serbian gangsters who have entered the cultivation of marijuana in Macedonia are in jail. But this does not prevent them from expanding their business since the only condition is to find people in the area, including direct family members, who do not have a criminal record to use them as nominal owners of the company.
The Republic of North Macedonia is another country that wants to be part of the flourishing cannabis industry. It is one of the few countries in Europe where cannabis cultivation and production has been legalized, including the export of medical cannabis products. The lack of a state monopoly in terms of cultivation, distribution and sale of cannabis allows companies operating in the industry to freely distribute their products within their country.
And it is also a great reason for joy for Serbian gangsters who want to enter the industry since in most countries that legalize medical cannabis, regulations are much stricter in terms of licenses and exports than the Republic of Macedonia. North. It doesn’t matter what legislators want to do because gangsters are always the first to anticipate and react.
Experts predict that the market is likely to continue expanding at high speed in northern Macedonia. And, of course, the mafia doesn’t want to miss its share of the profits. They have long cultivated and distributed marijuana illegally. The gangsters know better than any farmer what the cannabis plant needs to develop in the best way. More and more gangsters will be entering the legal market since Macedonia does not have large requirements for entering the legal marijuana business and, in addition, the gangsters know very well all the political resources that must be touched and who should be bribed if it is necessary.
