German Medical Cannabis Imports Rose 51% In The Last Year
Germany’s legal medical cannabis industry was already the largest in Europe before the first provisions of adult-use legalization took effect on April 1st, 2024, and thanks to the recent removal of cannabis from Germany’s Narcotics List, the nation’s medical cannabis industry is set to surge.
Still, Germany imports a considerable amount of medical cannabis products from other countries, particularly from Canada. According to a recent social media post by international cannabis expert Alfredo Pascual, medical cannabis imports have increased significantly over the last year:
🇩🇪 The #German #BfArM reports 11,706 kg of #medical #cannabis imported in Q2 2024—up 44% from Q1 and up 51% from Q2 2023.
First data showing growth since the April 1st legal changes.
Reminder: Imports don’t equal pharmacy sales. pic.twitter.com/newX7y2FxF— Alfredo Pascual, CFA 🥨🧉 (@alfrep28) August 8, 2024
In 2023, Germany imported 31,398 kilograms of medical cannabis products according to data from Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), a 26.2% increase compared to the prior year. In 2022 Germany imported 24,876 kilograms, compared to 20,771 kilograms in 2021, 11,746 kilograms in 2020, and 8,057 kilograms in 2019.
Roughly 50% of imported cannabis to Germany in 2023 originated from Canada compared to 40% the previous year. In the first half of 2024, 56% of medical cannabis product imports to Germany originated from Canada.
Starting in 2017, Germany legalized the use of 14 different varieties of cannabis flower for patients with severe debilitating diseases and no other treatment options. The legal medical cannabis products have been distributed through German pharmacies ever since. However, it wasn’t until 2019 that Germany allowed medical cannabis to be produced domestically, with the European nation’s medical cannabis industry initially relying solely on medical cannabis imports.
Three companies were chosen in 2019 to produce medical cannabis within Germany. The companies were capped at 10,400 kilograms of product production over the course of a four-year span. With the new CanG law taking effect, that quota system has since gone away. More companies can now apply to cultivate medical cannabis within Germany’s borders, and that will presumably impact Germany’s medical cannabis imports.