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Thanks to support from the Andrews Labor Government, Canopy Growth Corporate, through its wholly owned subsidiary Spectrum Cannabis Australia, will invest up to $16 million here in Victoria to establish the centre.

The new cultivation and production facility will enable the production of high quality medicinal cannabis for domestic and international patients as market opportunities arise.

By exporting its products from Victoria, Spectrum will create hundreds of new jobs across the supply chain and position the state as the southern hemisphere’s export hub for medicinal cannabis.

Hosting the company’s Research and Development Centre in Victoria will further strengthen the research collaboration currently underway between Canopy and Agriculture Victoria and delivering world class results in the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis.

The Labor Government Medical Cannabis Industry Development Strategy sets out a plan to grow Victoria’s emerging medicinal cannabis industry into an established sector – and  attracting the world’s largest firm to set up operations right here in Victoria is a major step towards that goal.

The strategy aims to have Victoria supplying half of Australia’s medicinal cannabis by 2028, along with the creation of 500 jobs in Victoria.

Victoria was the first state in Australia to legalise access to medicinal cannabis for patients in exceptional circumstances in 2016.