From RustBelt To GreenBelt? Dortmund Gets Itself On The Cannabis Map

For soccer fans, BVB Dortmund needs no introduction. In fact, it is the world-famous sports team that has kept this former Rühr Valley industrial powerhouse on the team as the region is slowly turned into an academic and research hub.

But the city has also had another reputation for some time – namely one where drugs and crime, particularly in a place near the north of town (Nordstadt or Borsigplatz) had blighted large areas of an otherwise quaint, reinventing German town.

That might be changing. There is a renewed focus this spring by several political parties to make medical marijuana an “issue.” Especially as there are now 100 legitimate patients, with a potential for 6,000 more. Both Die Linke and Pirate political parties have now taken up the challenge with local authorities, demanding both cultivation of medical cannabis within the city as well as the establishment of a local cannabis club for the distribution of the same.

Authorities seem mildly interested in the same – but it is clear that such proposals are increasing all over the country.

Dortmund, like many German rust belt towns, is going to be an interesting place to watch for cannabis activism going forward. Particularly as those proposals intersect with both economic redevelopment that is actively going on in such places, directed by the German government and academic, tech or insurance hotspots.

With similar campaigns also going on in nearby Bremen, as well as cities and towns across the country, look for this issue to become an ever more fervent one.

The topic of medical cannabis has caught fire in Germany and most people who are seriously in need know the current situation is unworkable for most parties.

As the first crops grown in Germany come to the market this year, look for more calls for local, German production, as opposed to that financed or grown by outsiders – and for everything to do with matters from quality to price.

As much as the government has tried to slow down the tide, the movement for increased access to the plant will not be stopped and is showing up in places where pain, of both a physical and economic kind, has been in the room for decades now.

That is a potent mix, and 2020 promises to be another potent year for the industry – and at all levels. 

Be sure to book your tickets now for the top cannabis industry festival in Europe this spring – the International Cannabis Business Conference in Barcelona, Berlin, and Bern!