Just as they have done with fine wine, Aussies are choosing to consume home-grown marijuana rather than foreign imports, and ECS Botanics (ASX:ECS) is stepping up to the plate with its premium dried flower products.

ECS’ new Victoria-based subsidiary, Murray Meds, this week extended its agreement with Melbourne-based Releaf Group to supply the company with jars of its trimmed and dried cannabis flower for sale in its St Kilda dispensary.

Releaf Clinics is Australia’s first dedicated clinic and dispensary franchise group, formed to simplify the complex consultation process under Australia’s medical marijuana laws.

According to Australian cannabis news website Cannabiz, there’s been a bit of a shortage of dry cannabis flower in the country, hampering patients’ ability to secure a continuous supply of their medicine. Much of Australia’s legal cannabis is imported from Canada, and regulators there are blaming COVID-19 and staff working remotely for a delay in approving export permits to the country.

But ECS earlier this month completed its acquisition of Murray Meds, a fully licensed medical cannabis and manufacturing facility on a seven-acre site on the Murray River in northwestern Victoria, which can provide Australians with medical marijuana that’s not caught up in foreign red tape.

“THC flower is in high demand, and we are pleased to be partnering with Australia’s leading medicinal cannabis clinics and dispensary groups,” says ECS Botanics managing director Alex Keach.

“The accelerating rollout of Releaf’s medicinal cannabis clinics and dispensaries across Australia is also making access easier for patients and driving demand; Releaf has an aggressive rollout franchise strategy and we look forward to supporting their growth.

“We are also pleased to see a shift from Canadian imported material to our Australian-grown product.”

Releaf Group chief executive Gary Mackenzie says the agreement is another milestone for the group of companies, which is expanding its franchise operations in Australia, New Zealand and the UK “to supply high-quality Australian flowers back into dispensaries”.

“The partnership with ECS provides patients in need of access to a sustained supply of GMP-certified, high-quality medical cannabis and is an important step in improving patient access of local Australian products.”

The agreement will generate an estimated $590,000 in revenue for ECS over its 18-month term.

 

This article was developed in collaboration with ECS Botanics, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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