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Greece Hopes Its Economy Can Get High From Medical Weed

  • Minister sees 1st round of investments above 1.5 billion euros
  • Legislation on medicinal cannabis expected by end of 2017
Nearly matured medical marijuana plants grow in a climate controlled growing room.

Nearly matured medical marijuana plants grow in a climate controlled growing room.

Photographer: James MacDonald/Bloomberg

Eleni Chrepa and Antonis Galanopoulos

Investors in medical cannabis projects are focusing on Greece, where a warm, sunny climate and potentially favorable future legislation could help the government deliver on a promise to pull the country out of a seven-year economic crisis.

Growers have expressed interest in pumping more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.74 billion) into projects to build greenhouse parks for the cultivation and manufacture of cannabis, Evangelos Apostolou, minister of rural development and food, said in an interview. That would give Greece a share of a global market the government says could be worth 200 billion euros in the next 10 years.