Robust Legal Sales Is Vital For Achieving Europe’s Cannabis Goals
The current level of excitement and interest in Europe’s emerging legal cannabis market is remarkable in many ways, as is the interesting public policy model that has developed in Europe in recent years. Whereas current European Union agreements prohibit nationwide adult-use cannabis sales like what is found in Uruguay and Canada, the EU does permit research-based cannabis policies that focus on boosting public health outcomes.
The first European nation to adopt a national adult-use legalization measure was Malta in 2021. Malta’s legalization model is built on allowing adults to cultivate, possess, and consume a personal amount of cannabis in addition to permitting regulated cultivation associations to operate. Malta was followed by Luxembourg in 2023, with Luxembourg adopting a more restrictive model that only permits personal cultivation and possession.
Germany ushered in the next evolution in European cannabis legalization by adopting the historic CanG law in 2024. Germany’s two-pillared approach incorporates personal cultivation and possession freedoms, cultivation associations, and the launch of regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot trials. The Netherlands and Switzerland also have pilot trials; however, adult-use activity outside of the parameters of the trials remains prohibited in those nations.
In the lead up to Germany adopting the CanG law, German policymakers pushed hard to get the European Union’s permission to let Germany adopt a more comprehensive sales model like what is in place in Canada. In many ways, Germany was not only lobbying on its own behalf, but also on behalf of other European nations that wish to follow in Germany’s policy modernization footsteps.
Unfortunately, the European Union refrained from granting permission for national recreational sales in Germany, thereby limiting the chances of success for Germany and other EU member nations in reaching their cannabis policy goals.
In my ongoing discussions with top European legal cannabis expert Peter Homberg of gunnercooke, he often points out that there are three goals of German cannabis policy modernization efforts. The three goals, which Mr. Homberg touched on in his keynote address on day 1 of the recent International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin, also extend to other EU markets (paraphrased below):
- To protect children.
- To boost public health outcomes.
- To hinder the unregulated market.
As I have previously stated, the first two items on the above list flow from the third, and success can only be achieved by recognizing the reality that consumers and patients are going to purchase and consume cannabis products, and they must be afforded the legal options to do so. Home cultivation will help alleviate consumer and patient reliance on unregulated sources to a degree, and the same is true for cultivation associations.
However, both of those components of current European legalization models can only go so far. Some amount of consumers and patients will still turn to the unregulated market, either because they do not have the means to cultivate their cannabis at home, or they do not have a sufficient cultivation association option in their area. Even if they do have the ability to cultivate cannabis at home and join a cultivation association, there will no doubt be times when they need to bridge a supply gap.
If they can’t make a legal purchase from a delivery service or brick and mortar, their only option is to turn to the unregulated market. Historical data is clear – most consumers and patients in that situation will not go without, despite what cannabis opponents and certain policymakers would lead people to believe. Until consumers and patients have legal options to purchase the type of cannabis that they prefer, via channels that they prefer, they will continue to turn to the unregulated market, and European cannabis policy modernization goals will never be fully achieved.
Consumers and patients across Europe need to keep the pressure on their policymakers to modernize national laws and EU agreements. They need to educate everyone they can about the harms of cannabis prohibition and the benefits of modernized cannabis policies. Everyone needs to know that cannabis prohibition is a failed public policy, and it harms all members of society, whether they consume cannabis or not. When limited public resources are wasted enforcing failed cannabis prohibition, everyone loses, including taxpayers and members of the criminal justice system.
Individual nations in Europe need to band together and modernize European Union agreements. Additionally, in Germany specifically, domestic policymakers need to allow regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot trials to proceed. As I previously mentioned, pilot trials are already operating in the Netherlands and Switzerland, and no major issues have been reported. The same will be true in Germany when pilot trials are launched. There is no valid excuse for the continued pilot trial foot-dragging in Germany.
The European Union and European Commission need to recognize that humans are going to consume cannabis, whether it is legal to do so or not. It is clearly better for public health outcomes, taxpayers, local economies, and the criminal justice system when consumers and patients make their cannabis purchases from regulated sources instead of from criminal operations.
European cannabis prohibition has been in place for decades, and it has done nothing to lower consumption rates. All it has done is enrich the unregulated market, much of which is controlled by organized criminal enterprises that do not care about children and public health outcomes. It is beyond time for a more sensible, reality-based public policy approach.