Cannabis legalization process in Germany is accelerating!

Germany appears to be accelerating its cannabis legalization process. Finance Minister Christian Lindner tweeted that cannabis will be legal “soon”. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said there are many technical details to be worked out, which should start this summer. Expect a legalization bill sometime before the end of the year.

The Germans want to involve as many players as possible. The government wants to coordinate with states, local authorities, bureaucrats, medical staff and civil society groups before taking any action.

But that’s too many cooks in the kitchen? Or an attempt to speed up the cannabis legalization process in Germany?

Is Germany speeding up the cannabis legalization process?

The federal government had announced for the first time that it would legalize cannabis in November 2021. But since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, accelerating the legalization process has not been a top priority for the coalition government.

As far as the details go, there aren’t many. The government said it supports home growing. But they also said the government would regulate cannabis sales through licensed stores. No one has any other information about the regulations. Will there be THC limits for the products? What about bans on certain products like edibles? And what about home growing? Is that a guarantee?

“It’s hard to say right now,” says Nawan Butt, portfolio manager at Purpose Investments. “We haven’t actually seen a first draft of the bill itself. I would say expect something that is much better aligned with the regulations of the current German medical market.”

Germany legalized medicinal cannabis in 2017 and has since become the most important medicinal cannabis market in Europe.

A legal German cannabis market

When it comes to cannabis, German lawmakers sound like Canadians. Keep it away from children and subvert the black market. The University of Düsseldorf suggested that legal recreational cannabis could bring in over $5.3 billion in tax revenue and create 27,000 direct jobs in the industry.

But suppose the German acceleration of the legalization process is to rush it. If so, they could face the same problems as Canadian cannabis. Namely expensive pharmaceutical grade cannabis. Products struggling to compete with the legacy market.

So far, the German playbook seems to be borrowing from the Canadians. Cannovum AG is a large publicly traded medical cannabis company in Germany. Approved as a pharmaceutical manufacturer and wholesaler and listed on the Düsseldorf Stock Exchange.

German company Cansativa is the sole distributor of all cannabis grown in Germany.

Germany also imports much of its medicinal cannabis. In 2020 they imported almost 10,000 kg from the Netherlands and Canada. Recently, however, Germany has been importing cannabis from Israel, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay.

Excited about speeding up the legalization process

If Germany comes up with a bill by the end of this year, it could mean German legal cannabis next summer.

“A lot of people are very, very excited,” says Nawan. “We are also very excited to see how regulations will emerge and how their structure will work. Whether Germany will be protectionist like many cannabis jurisdictions have been in the past, only allowing domestic cultivation. Or whether they looked at it globally and have an international program. So many curiosities around.”

Whether Germany is accelerating its legalization process or toying around with draft legislation indefinitely remains to be seen. However, if Germany legalizes it, there will be a turning point.

“This is a G7 country,” says Nawan. “Germany is a big market, around 80 million people. This will be the first major European country to legalize adult-use cannabis,” says Nawan. “We were very happy about it.”

footnote(s)

https://www.dice.hhu.de/startseitennews/study-cannabislegalisation-brings-to-the-state-yearly-47-billiard-euro-around-27000-legal-jobs-woerden-created
https://twitter.com/c_lindner/status/1522545923913564165