Yo, peep this, y’all! The Danish Parliament’s Health Committee recently came out and said they straight-up destroyed over 145,541 kilograms (or about 320,862 pounds) of weed, ya heard? And check this, they even issued 303 permits to get rid of all that greenery.
Now, get this, all that cannabis they burned came from companies who got the green light to grow in Denmark through this pilot program. Yeah, it’s called the “Act on a Medical Cannabis Pilot Programme,” and it got approved back in 2017. It officially started on January 1, 2018. The Danish government says they did it to let patients test out medicinal cannabis if their regular meds weren’t doin’ the trick. They say this pilot program will be running until December 31, 2025.
So, here’s the deal. Denmark gave the thumbs up to 11 companies to make cannabis products in their hood. You got Aurora Nordic Cannabis A/S, DanCann Pharma A/S, Little Green Pharma Denmark ApS, MEDICAN A/S, Movianto Nordic ApS, Schroll Medical ApS, Sterigenics Denmark A/S, Tetra Pharm Technologies ApS, Valcon Medical A/S, Valeos Pharma A/S, and Vertanical Denmark ApS. And each of these guys got one of four permits to grow or make cannabis. They either got approval for the pilot program, pharmaceutical manufacturing, propagating plants, or this thing called “development authorization.”
Now let’s talk about this “development authorization.” It kicked off on January 1, 2018 too. They said it’s for companies to get a chance to develop new ways to grow and produce cannabis for medicinal use. But get this straight: the cannabis they grow under this scheme can’t be used in the pilot program or for any other medicinal purposes.
Now the Danish Medicines Agency, they say the 145,541 kilograms of weed they destroyed is a mix of the four permit types. But they can’t say for sure how much of it was meant for the pilot program, you feel me?
Oh, and they didn’t say why they burnt all that ganja. All they said was it was due to “faulty productions, discarded products including imported products and all cannabis cultivated in the development scheme are also included in the stated quantity.” And just so you know, all that weed had more than 0.2% THC.
Now let’s talk numbers. In 2023, Denmark destroyed the most weed ever compared to previous years. Back in 2022, they lost or destroyed about 10,753 kilograms (that’s around 23,706 pounds) of cannabis that had nothing to do with the pilot program.
But wait, there’s more! In 2019, these approved companies in Denmark’s medical cannabis pilot program produced about 2,112 kg (around 4,656 pounds) of weed. Then in 2020, they pumped out 6,587 kg (around 14,521 pounds). And get this: in 2021, they grew a whopping 32,433 kg (that’s about 71,502 pounds)! We still waitin’ on the numbers for 2022.
Now let’s talk dough. The sales of cannabis in Denmark keep goin’ up. In 2020, they made ’bout $30.8 million kroner (that’s around US$2.8 million). Then in 2021, it jumped to $64.3 million kroner (~US$5.9 million). And even though it dipped a little in 2022 to $62.5 million kroner (~US$5.8 million), that’s still a good chunk of change right there.
But hey, Denmark ain’t the only one torchin’ their stash. Up in Canada, they burned a crazy amount of weed too. In 2021 alone, Canadian companies set ablaze 425,325 kilograms (that’s ’bout 937,681 pounds) of dried cannabis. And check this, they also destroyed 40,454 kilograms (that’s ’bout 89,185 pounds) of extracts, 97,959 kilograms (that’s ’round 215,962 pounds) in edibles, and 3,940 kilograms (that’s ’bout 8,686 pounds) worth of topicals. All that was called “unpackaged.” And if that wasn’t enough, they also trashed 3,576,232 units of dried cannabis, 1,118,148 units of extracts, 2,421,823 units of edibles, and 15,359 units of topicals that were all neatly packaged. Damn!
Now down in the U.S., they burnin’ up all that illegal cannabis they seize. The Drug Enforcement Administration just came out and said they snatched over 5,581,839 cannabis plants in May. And guess what? Ninety percent of those plants were from Cali! Damn!
Now let me switch it up on y’all real quick. You heard about Christiana in Denmark? It’s this neighborhood commune known for its chill drug scene. Well, the mayor of Copenhagen recently spoke up about some violence goin’ down there. She told tourists to stop buyin’ weed in Christiana to try and put an end to the madness. She said, “The spiral of violence at Christiania is deeply worrying,” and asked all the visitors to stay away from Pusher Street where they slang them drugs. This all came after a shootout happened there on Aug. 26 that led to a man gettin’ killed. Shit’s gettin’ crazy out there, y’all!
So, that’s the deal, my peeps. Denmark be destroyin’ all that weed like it ain’t no thang. But hey, at least they’re tryin’ to do it legally. And if you ever head to Christiana, better watch your back ’cause shit be goin’ down. Stay safe, ya’ll!
