Smuggling Busts Further Taint North Macedonia’s Legal Cannabis Industry

Dragan Krstev used to work for a company called Green Life, growing medicinal cannabis in a village called Josifovo near North Macedonia’s southern border with Greece.

Cultivation of cannabis for medicinal purposes was legalised in 2016 and promoted heavily by the former Social Democrat-led government of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. By 2021, the country boasted more than 60 licenced cannabis producers.

At Green Life, Krstev collaborated with a man from neighbouring Serbia called Aleksandar Mijajlovic. Their cooperation continued briefly when Krstev followed him to another firm in the same field – Alphapharm, which Krstev co-ran with an associate and compatriot of Mijajlovic called Ivan Dragnic.

Krstev, 30, said he enjoyed working with Mijajlovic. The Serbian, he said, told him not to worry about Alphapharm’s finances, but to concentrate on administration and production standards.