As Malta seeks to establish itself as a centre for the production of medical cannabis, the Medicines Authority is working on a new ‘academy of excellence’ to train people interested in working in this field.

In an interview with iNews, Economy Minister Chris Cardona confirmed that the national medicines regulator will set up an academy of excellence in regulatory science that, among other fields, will focus on medical cannabis courses.

“Although we often say our greatest [economic] challenge is finding enough workers, as a politician I believe that our greatest challenge is ensuring that the high-quality jobs we are creating are taken up by Maltese youths,” Cardona said. “This doesn’t mean we are closing the door or foreigners but that we want to ensure our youths have the high-quality jobs they deserve.”

“We want our workers to keep on developing their potential because our economy depends on human capital and the [medical cannabis] sector requires technical people with specialised training.”

Cardona said that 46 medical cannabis projects have been proposed to Malta Enterprise so far, out of which 20 were approved and 16 rejected.

He said that the approved projects will create 700 full-time jobs, invest €100 million in capital and result in an annual export value of €900 million.

“Although it’s still a young sector in Malta, the medical cannabis sector is already reaping success and I believe this will only keep on growing in the coming months. The aim is for Malta to become a centre of excellence in the medical cannabis sector.”

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