Kannaway, the direct selling subsidiary of Medical Marijuana, Inc., announced a historic win in Finland in its court battle to legally import cannabidiol (CBD) oil.
“We have been a leader in bringing CBD to Finland, as well as to many other countries across Europe,” said Kannaway® CEO Blake Schroeder. “We knew that our operations and sales were legal in Finland but receiving this ruling from the Finnish High Supreme Administrative Court is promising for the future of our company and the entire industry. We are well on our way to becoming the first truly global cannabis company in the world.”
Although the company has had an active presence in Finland for years, Finnish Customs confiscated a bottle of Kannaway Pure Gold in 2018, claiming it was illegally imported. Citing that the FIMEA (Finnish Medicines Agency) lists CBD as a medicinal ingredient, the Finnish Customs Authority took what the company calls “a blanket approach” in treating all CBD products like medicines.
With this legal win, the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court declared that “any product, according to EU directives, would need to be classified as a medicinal product on a case-by-case basis with specific claims on therapeutic effects, dosage and supporting evidence.” Upon review, the Supreme Administrative Court deemed Kannaway Pure Gold hemp oil as a non-medicinal product.
“This is a huge win for Kannaway,” said Kannaway Managing Director of International Janne Heimonen. “Certainly, the European hemp industry will also benefit, but we are proud that it is our company that took action, fought the battle and won. We hope that this sets an important precedent for other EU jurisdictions where national medicine agencies have held a similar opinion. We have been fighting for many years now to prove that we are not, by law, selling medicine, but that our CBD oil is a nutritional supplement.”
