North Macedonia Police Issue Warrant for Cannabis CEO

Police in North Macedonia have issued an arrest warrant for Israeli cannabis company Medivie Therapeutic CEO Menachem Cohen over alleged criminal activities related to the company’s subsidiary in North Macedonia, according to a Globes report. Cohen controls 51 percent of the subsidiary, Kannatek.

Police claim that Medivie has been cultivating crops over the 0.1 percent threshold allowed in the nation, the report says. According to a News1 report, Macedonian authorities tested the company’s plants on April 24 and found THC residue.

In an interview with Globes, Cohen called the situation “Kafkaesque.”

“Our legal advisors say that simple laboratory tests will prove this wrong and that our plants have only 0.037 percent of THC – less than half the minimal permitted amount. We also have all the documents that show that the value chain is managed according to Macedonian regulations including buying the seeds and the police presence at the location during the harvest.” – Cohen to Globes

Cohen told Calcalist that the “mistake…will become evident when the results of the laboratory tests are obtained.”

Medical cannabis under 1 percent THC has been legal in Macedonia since 2016. The law only permits concentrates and tinctures. Lawmakers were set to consider legislation to allow flower products but it was tabled amid the government’s coronavirus response.

In 2018, Medivie inked a $110 million deal to produce medical cannabis for an unnamed European buyer in what was the biggest agreement of its kind by an Israeli cannabis firm at that time.