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Medical marijuana advances offer promise for packaging community

The growing medical marijuana market presents opportunities for packaging, despite challenges from regulations, child safety issues and others.

Functional Remedies has expanded its offering of Clarify hemp extract CBD products to include a Reserve line, featuring proprietary lipid extraction that utilizes the entire plant.
Functional Remedies has expanded its offering of Clarify hemp extract CBD products to include a Reserve line, featuring proprietary lipid extraction that utilizes the entire plant.

Medical marijuana was one of the “hot topics” at the recent PACK EXPO Las Vegas/Healthcare Packaging EXPO. One example: A video interview in which Presto Products Co.’s Todd Meussling discussed packaging hurdles, package types and challenges.

Packaging opportunities are especially promising given the multiple reports forecasting strong growth in the cannabis market. Grand View Research projects the global medical cannabis market to reach a value of US$55.8 billionby 2025. Therapeutic applications for cannabis cited in the report include chemotherapy, pain management, HIV/AIDS, glaucoma, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

“The cannabis industry will never be smaller than today,” notes Arcview Market Research’s website. The firm predicts the legal cannabis market “is expected to grow from the$6.7 billionmarket value of 2016 and at a robust 27% CAGR to $22.6 billion in 2021. That 20+% annual growth rate is likely to continue for many years past 2021 as more states and countries legalize cannabis.”

The medical cannabis business is also blooming in Canada, where it’s projected to exceed $8 billion within seven years, according to a recent Marijuana Business Daily story. The article cites, “a recent analysis by Eight Capital, a Toronto-based investment bank, [that] targets the potential Canadian international medical cannabis market at a staggering $142 billion over the next 15 years.”

The story points out that Canadian medical marijuana companies are eyeing European countries such as Germany, as well as Australia and Mexico as promising sales markets. The article quotes Cam Battley, a member of the board of Cannabis Canada saying, “There are no significant American competitors right now on the international stage, so the best opportunities are open to well-capitalized Canadian producers.”

Package developments

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