Canada is exporting tonnes of cannabis into Australia with few checks on its quality, while Australian growers of the plant are forced to meet strict criteria before the product can be sold on the country's booming medicinal market.
Canada does not allow the importation of cannabis, but last year the country exported 34 tonnes of high-THC-strength cannabis into Australia.
Seventy percent of the medicinal cannabis sold in Australia's rapidly expanding legal market comes from Canada.
Medicinal cannabis is now worth about half a billion dollars in sales annually in Australia. The industry began with legalization in 2016 but roared to life in 2020 when the pandemic popularised telehealth and Australians realized they could access the drug legally and easily for the first time.
Read more at Sydney Morning Herald.