Our team is just back from more international business as we spent the weekend in Czech Republic, showcasing our full series of cannabis vending machines at Cannafest 2019, Prague’s cannabis trade show, now consolidated as the biggest cannabis fair in Europe.

Cannabis in the Czech Republic is still illegal for recreational use, but the plant’s personal use and possession has been decriminalized since 1 January 2010, while medical cannabis has been legal since 1 April 2013. Since its decriminalization in 2010, cannabis has been legal for medicinal use in the Czech Republic, but there was no regulation of the cost and marijuana therapies were not covered by health insurance, making it difficult for patients to access their medicine. Last month Czech Republic’s Parliament has approved and passed a new cannabis bill proposed by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Health earlier this year, according to which now 90% of products containing cannabis for medical use will be reimbursed to patients from public health insurance. The new Czech medical cannabis bill will be effective starting on January 1st, 2020.

Czech Republic has a long standing tradition in growing and consuming marihuana, since back in the Russian days. The popularity of smoking cannabis in public in Czech Republic is actually a testament to the rebellious spirit of Czech people, who have become used to ignoring and despising police and official state authorities in general after 40 years of communist oppression and repression. Especially in the Czech countryside, local police in most cases do not care to intervene when they smell burning cannabis, and this is because they know that at least a grandmother out of two in their village grows a few plants to make cannabis creams and tinctures old remedy medications for sick members of their local community.

Czechs love cannabis, which explains why the use of cannabis in Czech Republic is one of the highest in Europe, and is bringing Prague to be known as the new Amsterdam, as pretty much every bar, pub or club in the city sells marihuana and hashish for personal use straight out of the bar counter, as you were buying beer or drink shots. These sales are illegal, but widely tolerated not only by the authorities, but also by the general public in Czech Republic. Czechs’ tolerance for cannabis gets to the point that, especially in large cities like Prague, the vast majority of Czechs who don’t really like and will never use cannabis have absolutely nothing against people who, on the contrary, do love cannabis and cannabis products.

With a scenario of positive legislation and public acceptance like this, of course the cannabis scene in Czech Republic grows strong, and so does all the business related to the new “green economy”. This scenario positively impacts also the Prague-based cannabis trade show, that every year features a very healthy marihuana industry and cannabis culture, while keeping growing over the years.

Harvin has invested heavily this year on a business expansion across Europe, focusing much of the efforts on the German-speaking countries of Central Europe (Austria, Germany and Switzerland), and bringing also the Harvin cannabis vending machines to more European countries such as Czech Republic, Poland and Greece, as you might remember from our previous blog articles. Of course we wouldn’t have missed out on CannaFest 2019!

CannaFest 2019 featured local and international exhibitors presenting every possible product for the cannabis industry; plenty of cannabis (both light and “regular”) as well as cannabis seeds and everything grow shop, but  also cannabis-based food and drinks, hemp fashion, cosmetics and pet products, hemp based building materials, various CBD products, vaporizers and e-liquids, hemp and cannabis magazines, publications, art and much more.

The ample industrial location that hosted the cannabis fair has been crowded with public and events for the entire CannaFest weekend, and this included also the parallel running of the EuroAmerican Cannabis Business Conference (EuroAMCBC), the conference focusing on all business, legislative and scientific topics of the cannabis industry, and that also takes place two more times per year in Los Angeles and Montreal.

At the Prague conference this year several hot cannabis topics have been covered over a full day of conference. Among the most interesting topics (in our opinion), all the scientific sessions about CBD, GBG and cannabis engineering, the sessions about the market regulation in medical and medicinal cannabis, and intriguing sessions such as the one dedicated to the opportunities of cannabis tourism, with a presentation by an american speaker and spokesperson for the California Cannabis Tourism Association.

Wow… we really have a long way to go here in Europe, before we reach the now consolidated cannabis market currently flying high in Canada and in most states of the United States, especially California, Colorado and the New York state, that are heading the market growth, business, evolution and trends. In this sense, at the EuroAMBC Conference a couple of sessions have shared the experiences of both a regulated market such as Canada, and those of an European market that it will soon be legalized and regulated, Germany – as recently announced by the German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, and following the recent new positive legalizing measures adopted by their little neighbor state Luxembourg (and recently also by our little neighbour state here in Italy, San Marino – we will soon write something about this new European trend, and where the Italian market stands in legislative and perspective terms.

Back to us and our beautiful experience at CannaFest Prague 2019, check out a few pictures of the Harvin booth at CannaFest, which has been busy as usual for the entire weekend, pretty much like the rest of exhibitors at the Prague cannabis fair.

Here are some more pictures from the Harvin booth at the CannaFest 2019, but don’t forget to check out the other pictures and video we shared from Prague on our official Facebook, Instagram and YouTube Harvin pages.

To conclude this blog post from Prague, we also would like to share a short video from a good friend we met at CannaFest 2019, Marco Russo. Marco is a veteran of the Italian cannabis industry, and in the last five years have been running the very successful Milan-based 4:20 Hemp Festival.

Besides the organization of cannabis trade shows and events, Marco is one of the founders of the first ever grow shop in Italy, Sir Canapa, that also was one of the exhibitors at the Prague cannabis fair.  And Sir Canapa, of course, also adopted many of our cannabis vending machines! See what Marco has to say in this brief video from CannFest 2019.

Thank you Marco, see you around the cannabis industry anytime soon, and at 4:20 Hemp Festival 2020 too, of course!

Be inspired by the success of Marcos’s business and follow the example of our partners: get one or more Harvin cannabis vending machines and expand your business horizons, and you will be able to extend your sales and business times up to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!

The extra sales volumes deriving from the installation of one or more cannabis vending machines in your business location are truly worth the investment; a very affordable one, tailored to businesses of any size. Get ready to gain more new customers by providing access to your products also to those customers who don’t have time to come to your shop during business hours because they are stuck in their own office or shop, or those who really want to buy your products but won’t enter your cannabis shop during opening hours because they are shy, or because they prefer to protect their privacy.

Get in touch with Harvin today, we’ll be happy to help you grow your business, and to study together the best solutions for your business among our full line of cannabis vending machines, and we’ll be happy to come see you at your location, to start having a good idea since our first talks about your physical spaces, and which cannabis selling machine could fit best to suit your needs.

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