CanPoland: a Polish company whose dried flower did not grow in Poland

Who is CanPoland and where does the dried flower sold under this name come from?

CanPoland is a pharmaceutical company from Łódź that is responsible for two pharmacy positions of hemp dried flower, but it does not cultivate hemp itself. The plant grows outside of Poland: industry reports from 2023 indicate Canadian cultivation, and the company itself lists three sources of raw material without naming the grower.

The name is misleading, and it's better to say this right away. The company describes itself on its own website as the first pharmaceutical company with Polish capital engaged in international trade of medical marijuana. The word trade does all the heavy lifting in this sentence. In a development announcement from May 2021, the management announced the establishment of a subsidiary that would conduct laboratory research and would only start cultivation when Polish law allows it. Therefore, there was no cultivation at that time, and during a fundraising round in January of the same year, the co-founder spoke about waiting for the opportunity to conduct cultivation in the country.

The informational material for pharmacists, issued by the distributor, lists two roles. As the responsible entity, CanPoland S.A. is mentioned with an address on Beskidzka Street in Łódź, and as the distributor, AMARA Pharmaceutical Company from Kraków. The third role, that of the one who sowed and harvested the plant, is not named at all in the leaflet. An industry portal reporting the entry of both positions into pharmacies stated directly that the dried flower distributed by this company does not come from Poland and pointed to Canadian cultivation. This is a press release, not a registration document, and we treat it as such here.

Does CanPoland have capital ties with a foreign supplier?

It has a connection with a Canadian investor, but not in the company responsible for the dried flower. The Canadian ICC entered the subsidiary The Health Company Poland in February 2020 and took half of its shares. The shareholder of CanPoland itself became a Polish pharmacy group, not that Canadian investor.

The subsidiary was established at the same Łódź address as CanPoland, and it sells non-pharmacy products, not raw prescription material. The register shows it as an active entity, established in January 2020 under a different name. The second capital entry was TT Pharma, belonging to Pelion, a Polish pharmacy group, which acquired about thirty percent of CanPoland's shares by the end of 2020. Public sources do not show that the Canadian partner has shares in the company responsible for the dried flower.

What does not follow from this: no one stated that it was indeed the Canadian partner who supplied the plant material for the two entries from 2023. Capital ties and supply agreements are two different things, and only the former is publicly confirmed. This same announcement also hinted at subsidiaries in Lithuania and in one of the Scandinavian countries, indicating expansion rather than towards its own field. A separate note concerns names. CanPoland and Canopy Growth are two different entities in this list, despite the similar beginning of both names.

Which strains from this producer are available in Polish pharmacies?

Two, and both are currently in question. CanPoland registered Shishkaberry and Gorilla Glue as pharmaceutical raw material in the form of flower, in packages of ten grams. The database describing pharmacy positions currently marks each of them as withdrawn, and after one delivery from 2023, no subsequent one arrived.

The difference between these two entries does not end with the name. Gorilla Glue has three other manufacturers in the Polish list, so the disappearance of the CanPoland version did not remove this strain from pharmacies. For Shishkaberry besides CanPoland, there is no other producer in this list, and this is the only such position of this company. The withdrawal of one position thus removes the entire strain from the market, not just one of its versions.

The leaflet also divides both positions by genetics, and here the sources stop agreeing. The producer describes the weaker version as a hybrid with an indica dominance, and the stronger one as a hybrid with a sativa dominance. The profile database simply records both as hybrids, and for the other versions of Gorilla Glue from other producers, it indicates an indica dominance, which is the opposite of the leaflet. There is no resolution, as none of these sources show the study on which their division is based.

What does the terpene profile of the two CanPoland products say?

It states that the products differ in their leading terpene. For Gorilla Glue, it is caryophyllene, while for Shishkaberry, it is myrcene with a notable presence of ocimene. We do not provide the shares in numbers because for these two products, they sum up to ninety-eight and one hundred one, so the denominator is different for each.

A sum exceeding one hundred is an argument in itself. If four numbers describing one product add up to one hundred one, they are not shares of the entire profile, but something else, which the source does not name. Transferring such a number to a text about a raw material issued by a doctor's prescription turns it into a measurement, which it is not. Therefore, we present the composition as composition: what is in the profile and what predominates.

The description of both entries comes from one source. The second Polish profile database does not have any of these dried flowers under the name CanPoland, only extract, so a comparison of two independent descriptions cannot be made here. The same database provides for the stronger version an aroma described as diesel, spicy, piney, and earthy, while for the weaker one, it does not record the aroma at all. The leading terpene of each of them has its own axis in this cluster: caryophyllene and myrcene.

How does this producer's raw material differ from others?

By the role the company plays in the chain, not by what happens to the plant. CanPoland operates a pharmaceutical raw material production facility and a wholesale in Łódź, repackages drugs from parallel imports, and purchases plant material based on supply agreements. The harvest takes place elsewhere and with someone else.

On its own website, the company states that it has signed three supply agreements for raw materials from the EU, Canada, and Africa. This is the only public indication of origin, and none of these directions is attributed to a specific product. The facility in Łódź is described as a line capable of producing raw material in the form of flowers and oil, also on behalf of foreign brands. Production means in this sense the processing of raw material, its repackaging, and the release of batches, not the cultivation of the plant.

Standardization looks the same as with other manufacturers, and this is also an answer. The declared content is not the result of measuring the batch that the patient receives. The leaflet shows it based on a prescription template with a note about a ten percent deviation, and with such a deviation, the stronger version falls within the range of 19.8-24.2% THC. For the weaker version, our data does not carry ranges, so there are no numbers for it here. The company does not publish analysis certificates for individual batches, just like the rest of the manufacturers in this list.

How long does it take for this producer's dried flower to take effect, and how long does the effect last?

Just like any other hemp dried flower, because the course is determined by the method of intake, not by the manufacturer or the strain name. CanPoland's leaflet states that the onset of action occurs within five to ten minutes when vaporizing, but this number describes the route of administration, not this specific batch of raw material, and it has not been measured on either of the two products described on this page.

The same document mentions a heating range from 105 to 230 degrees Celsius. We cite this number as the content of the manufacturer's document, not as a setting recommendation: the range of one hundred twenty-five degrees describes the limits of the method, not a guideline for the patient, and does not say anything about how much of each component passes into the vapor at a given setting. The method of administration is determined by the attending physician.

The route of administration determines the course more than the variety itself. After vaporization, the substance passes from the lungs to the blood almost immediately, so the first sensations appear after a few minutes, the intensity increases for another ten to thirty minutes, and the whole effect lasts for two to four hours. After ingestion, the raw material first passes through the intestine and liver, so the first sensations are awaited from half an hour to two hours, and the episode can last six, sometimes eight hours. Hence the most common mistake with oral administration: anyone who thinks nothing is happening after thirty minutes and takes another dose will receive both doses at once. The above ranges describe the route of administration, not this variety; pharmacokinetic studies for a single cultivar have not been published.

For both CanPoland products, there is nothing that would narrow this picture. The manufacturer has not published its own measurements of concentration over time, and the registration of prescription raw material does not require such data. What remains is what is visible on the leaflet: a recommendation to take it in the evening for the weaker version and during the day for the stronger one, which is a division based on declaration, not measurement.

What is known, and what is not known about this manufacturer's raw material?

It is known as much as is stated in the register and on the leaflet: two flower products, declared content, mode of dispensing from a doctor's prescription, and lack of reimbursement. It is not known who cultivated the plant, in which country, and under what regime, as the company does not publish either analysis certificates or the name of the grower.

The documents reveal little, and that little is hard. Both products were registered on January 23, 2023, the dried flower reached pharmacies in the fall of the same year, it is dispensed by prescription Rpw, and the raw material is not subject to reimbursement. The prescription is valid for thirty days, and the prescribed amount cannot exceed the demand for ninety days of therapy. The packaging contains ten grams, which the leaflet converts to one thousand seven hundred milligrams of active substance in the weaker version.

The manufacturer's material is everything that the leaflet says about the effects. The weaker version is attributed to calming and sleep, the stronger one to energy and mood improvement, and one of them even mentions reducing depression. None of these statements is backed by a single study, a single batch number, or a single concentration designation. These are commercial dispositions written in the language of the leaflet, not results from patient observations.

The third layer is patient reports. They circulate on forums and groups, can be detailed, but no one collects them in a register, and they cannot be attributed to the batches from which they originated. With one delivery from three years ago, even consistent reports say nothing about the dried flower that could return to pharmacies.

What adverse effects have been reported after this manufacturer's raw material?

None separately. Reports go to supervision under the batch number of a specific product, not under the company's name, so there is simply no public comparison assigned to the two CanPoland products. The manufacturer's leaflet lists symptoms, but does so for hemp dried flower in general and without providing any frequency.

Reports of adverse effects are collected for medicinal products with a batch number, not for the strain name, so the following pertains to hemp dried flower as a group of raw materials. The most frequently reported symptoms are dry mouth, red eyes, and increased heart rate. Dizziness upon rapid standing, daytime drowsiness, and temporary worsening of short-term memory are less frequently described, as well as anxiety that increases with dosage. A separate issue is medications taken concurrently, especially sedatives and those affecting coagulation: their assessment requires knowledge of the entire list of preparations, not just the description of the plant. We do not provide the frequency of these symptoms numerically, as public compilations for hemp dried flower in Poland do not separate them by individual products.

The list from CanPoland's leaflet is longer than the above and constructed differently. It adds low blood pressure, redness of the conjunctiva, abdominal pain, and coordination disorders, and separately warns against combining with opioids and alcohol. It also lists contraindications: psychosis, schizophrenia, addictions, as well as pregnancy and breastfeeding. None of these items has a number associated with it, so the list states what may be described, not how often.

Frequently asked questions about CanPoland

Does CanPoland cultivate hemp in Poland?

No. The company operates a pharmaceutical raw material production facility, a wholesale, and repackaging of drugs in Łódź, and purchases plant material from suppliers. In a statement from 2021, it announced the launch of its own cultivation only when Polish law allows it.

Where does the dried flower sold under the name CanPoland come from?

From outside Poland. The company states on its website three directions of supply agreements for raw materials, and a trade portal reporting the entry of both products into pharmacies indicated Canadian cultivations. Neither the leaflet nor the company itself provides the name of the grower.

How many CanPoland entries are in the Polish raw materials register?

Three: two flower varieties and one extract. This entry concerns two flower varieties, namely Shishkaberry and Gorilla Glue, registered on January 23, 2023.

Is CanPoland's dried flower currently available in pharmacies?

The database describing pharmacy entries marks both as withdrawn. The delivery from 2023 remains the only one, and the company has not announced another. The current status is verified in the list of available strains, not in the manufacturer's description.

Is CanPoland the same company as Canopy Growth?

No. These are two separate entities present in Polish pharmacies, and the similarity in the beginning of both names is coincidental. CanPoland is based in Łódź and is responsible for two flower entries, while Canopy Growth handles several.

Is the dried flower from CanPoland subject to reimbursement?

No, and the manufacturer's leaflet emphasizes this in capital letters. The raw material is issued only with a Rpw prescription, the prescription remains valid for thirty days, and the prescribed amount cannot exceed the demand for ninety days of therapy.

The complete list of strains currently available in pharmacies is in the list of currently available strains, and the store's assortment in the category dried flower.

Hemp dried flower is a pharmaceutical raw material issued by a doctor's prescription in the Rpw category, and advertising of medicinal products issued by prescription directed to the public is prohibited. The material is informational and does not replace a conversation with the attending physician.

Editorial text: redakcja ubucha.pl.