For medicinal use by patients across the UK, Europe and internationally
The Company was founded by a consortium of private investors and in August 2019, Northern Leaf was granted a Hemp licence from the Government of Jersey to achieve proof of concept. Following several successful cycles of hemp, the Company was awarded a high-THC, commercial licence from the Government of Jersey, under a MoU with the UK Home Office, in December 2020 that permitted the Company to cultivate, produce, possess and supply medical cannabis flower. This licence was the first issued by the UK Home Office since GW Pharma in 1998.
Since 2019, the Company has deployed a significant amount of capital to build a sustainable, state-of-the-art 100,000 sq. ft cannabis facility which can produce 6-8 tonnes of dried flower per annum. We planted our first crop in February 2022 and have now completed six crop cycles. We have GMP accreditation from the MHRA and GACP from the Control Union Medical Cannabis Standard (CUMCS).
Asaf is widely recognised as one of the leading growers in Europe and he has led the growing of several batches of cannabis flower for validation and commercial purposes. Our ‘pheno-hunting’ programme enables us to identify plants with the best cannabinoid profile, yields, aesthetics, terpene profile and disease resistance qualities. We are constantly testing different strains to enable us to identify new products to bring to market.
Post-cultivation activities are governed by GMP and include drying, machine trimming, fine trimming and packaging. We have a team of 16 staff who work directly in the cultivation, post-harvest and engineering and maintenance teams and strive to operate to the very highest standards in the industry.
We are GACP (CUMCS) accredited for our cultivation activities and GMP certified for all post-harvest processes. Both accreditations are difficult to achieve and represent the strongest possible endorsement of our people, processes and product as we seek to develop high-quality cannabis-based medicines for the benefit of patients across the EU and internationally.
This create the necessary conditions for a responsible, well-regulated cannabis industry to flourish. It has identified medical cannabis as a key sector to drive growth and has a strategy of making Jersey a European centre of excellence for medical cannabis. Jersey offers the best of all worlds: the ability for local producers to export all forms of medical cannabis whilst retaining close links with the UK and its highly regarded regulators, the Home Office and MHRA. In addition, the island benefits from highly competitive energy costs compared to other locations.
In May 2023, the Company gained GMP accreditation, which is a pre-requisite for selling into and unlocking the high growth EU medical cannabis market. Obtaining GMP accreditation serves as a significant barrier to entry for companies looking to serve the European market.
The Company has also received its GACP accreditation approved by Control Union Medical Cannabis Standard, thus enabling the sale of medical cannabis to the Israeli market, a large and rapidly growing medical cannabis market.
With GMP certification, the Company is well positioned to benefit from an early-mover advantage. Northern Leaf believes that the EU has the potential to become the world’s largest legal cannabis market, with Prohibition Partners forecasting a European medical cannabis market of €2.1bn in 2027, equivalent to 6.3x growth vs. 2022.
The UK established a medical cannabis framework in November 2018 and since then has expanded rapidly. We expect this to continue as further research is conducted, physician education increases and there is an increasing acceptance of medical cannabis as a treatment option for multiple conditions where other medicines have proven to be ineffective.
Creating an opportunity for Northern Leaf to sell the first home-grown British brand in an expanding domestic market. The Company is also pursuing commercial opportunities in other European and international markets, including Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Australia and Israel.
Following the trimming process, the dried flower buds are vacuum packed and stored in the Company’s high-security vault whilst the Company continues to be fully compliant with the required tracking and security requirements.
Northern Leaf has implemented a range of sustainability measures throughout the cultivation process. The facility uses power supplied by the Jersey Electricity Company, which is both highly secure and clean, coming from EDF in France where the source is a mix of nuclear and hydro. Water used for irrigation is drawn from a borehole on the Company’s premises before going through a reverse osmosis and UV filtering process to ensure that it is sterile. Water from the grow bays is recycled, underlining the Company’s commitment to sustainability.
