New CEO of cannabis group Michael Sautman wants Australia to legalise it
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Legalisation is not defeatist, nor does it make drug consumption either compulsory or desirable.
by
Sally Rose
Prominent North American legal marijuana industry lobbyist Michael Sautman will be in Sydney early next month to start making his case to regulators after being appointed chief executive of a yet-to-be-named cannabis group that is poised to float on the Australian sharemarket.
Mr Sautman is hopeful that in the future Australians will be able to legally tuck into pot-flavoured cereal for breakfast, eat a hemp-based faux steak for dinner, and smoke a joint in the evening. And he wants to be able to sell them all of those products and more through a suite of cannabis businesses being assembled in a reverse takeover of failing ASX-listed mining hopeful Capital Mining.
"I look forward to working with a range of regulators, legislators, scientists and medical practitioners to help develop a framework for the medical cannabis industry to operate in Australia. This is a process we have a lot of experience in across Canada and the US and are committed to supporting the development of an industry that is safe," Mr Sautman said.
The chief executive said that he was encouraged by the recent moves in NSW to decriminalise cannabis use for terminally ill patients. Her also said a high level of illegal use of the drug in Australia indicates the considerable commercial potential, should parts of the industry be legalised.
"Australia is a country that is familiar with cannabis. Many people in Australia already use cannabis for medical purposes whether it's legal or not," Mr Sautman said.
Asked whether he thought most cannabis use in Australia was for bona fide medical purposes rather than recreational use, Mr Sautman downplayed the importance of that distinction.
"It is not for me to judge why people use cannabis other than for medical reasons. That is a personal issue, but our company only deals with medical patients that have a prescription," he said.
Mr Sautman conceded there is always a risk of people abusing a legal prescription supply chain. "Like any medicine or controlled substance, what people do with the product once they have obtained it legally is out of the producer's hands."
Shareholder approval needed
Capital Mining, which unveiled a plan to reinvent itself as a medical marijuana company a couple of weeks ago, announced the appointment of Mr Sautman as the group's new CEO on Wednesday. Mr Sautman takes the role in a deal that will see Capital Mining swallow Nutrawerx, a Colorado hemp-based food company he co-founded and heads, in exchange for $2 million worth of scrip.
Nutrawerx is a start-up with an exclusive agreement with major US food and beverage marketing firm MMI Market Management to develop a range of hemp-based snacks to be sold in supermarkets. The product range, which will contain only non-intoxicating cannabinoids, is set to include breakfast cereals, snack bars, protein shakes, meat substitutes and cosmetics.
The latest deal comes two weeks after
Capital Mining revealed it has agreed to pay $7 million in cash plus $25 million worth of stock options for a 49 per cent stake in British Columbia's Broken Coast Cannabis through a reverse takeover deal, and also buy 100 per cent of Vancouver-based Cannan Growers for $250,000 cash plus $1 million in stock options.
Capital Mining must secure shareholder approval to go to market to raise up to $15 million from new investors to finance the acquisitions.
Mr Sautman was key in assembling the roll-up of North American legal cannabis assets for Capital Mining. He was an adviser to both Broken Coast and Cannan Growers.
Before starting Nutrawex Mr Sautman headed Bedrocan International, a now defunct subsidiary of the official medical cannabis supplier to Dutch pharmacies. Prior to entering the legal cannabis industry Mr Sautman spent 25 years in the natural products processing industry as CEO of California Cashmere Co. In recent years he has been an active political agitator as CEO of industry lobby group Canadian Cannabis Research Institute.
Capital Mining's Australian chairman, James Ellingford, is expected to continue leading the board after the relisting.
