The realitiy seems to be far away from the truth nowadays, this question concerns almost all of us since march of this year. The movie focuses exactly on this, what can we believe, what should we believe and what are we allowed to believe- the topic: Hemp, or rather of „Cannabusiness“, as the americans call it in the meantime. „Cannabusiness“ which promises turnovers measured in billions and in the states, which regulated the use of Cannabis by law it already drove a veritable boom.
Indeed an austrian, the founder oft he bwin platform Manfred Bodner, who has international not an insignificant role as an enterpreneur and investor, but Austria itself seems to sleep through the development. For fear of chaotic states (and the headlines oft he boulevards) the politic ignores all the attempts of the WHO and the UNO, to remove Cannabis from the list of dangerous drugs and to equate it with Alkohol and coffee (which also belongs to the psychoactive substances).
This is an existential question for the company Deep Nature Project from Gols in Burgenland (an austrian federal state) . The business ist the biggest provider of CBD- products (THC- free Cannabis products) in Austria and they export 80% oft he productions. If Austria indulges the intentions of the pharmaceutical industries, who wants to classify all Cannabis- products as medicines or the fears of conservative politicans, Andrea Bamacher has to migrate abroad with her company. The numerous shops have to close. The movie also tells the story of the though fight from Andrea Bamacher all around her company and the prejudices she was confronted and still is. She and the representative and the founder oft he Hemp- federation David Rosse, who fights since years for the liberalisation, always had to confront themselves with the authorities and the justice, because hemp is still put on a level with hashish and hashish is associated with drug addiction.
Hemp owes the bad reputation the chef of the federal bureaus of Narcotics in the USA, Harry J. Anslinger, whose partly racist propaganda led, that hemp was put from the UNO 1961 on the list of particulary dangerous drugs, together with opiates, as Morphium and heroine. Neverthereless the hollywood- actor James „Jim“ Belushi operates in Oregon, that legalised Cannabis a hemp farm and catches with his Sitcom „Growing Belushi“ in the USA for attention. In Austria only the AGES, the state health agency, can produce products that contain THC. Their best client, the german pharma company Bionoric was bought from the canadian industry colossus Canopy Grothw, since then the AGES lost their client. Manfred Bodner calls that a neglected chance, because instead of opening the marcet in Austria , he is completly closed now and the big player are going to purchase in Portugal in the future, where as well as in Canada , after the liberalisation it drove a veritable boom. Bodners own plans concentrates therefore also on such projects in Portugal. Austria invites the WKO for November 2020 to a webinar about the hemp- industrie in Portugal an Israel, possibly without the domestic politic ever go along here. Potentially because they fear of hemp- trafics, or at least the headlines about- whereby we would be again at the subject of fake news.