Despite being one of the earliest countries in Europe to legalise cannabis for medical use, not to mention having an ideal climate for cultivation, Greece’s market only came online in practice last year.
In February 2024, following a seven-year battle, medical cannabis was made available to patients for the first time in what was described as a ‘new era for healthcare’ in the country.
A year on, and the market is growing steadily. According to the latest figures from Prohibition Partners Insights Hub, Greece’s estimated medical market size for 2025 is over €13 million.
While its domestic market is still in its infancy, this regulatory progress has injected fresh momentum into the country’s cultivation sector, spurring the emergence of multiple new companies.
One such company is Grecan Natural Medicine, which recently became one of just a handful of companies to receive EU-GMP certification, opening the door to Europe and beyond.
Americo Folcarelli, Director of Sales and Marketing at Grecan Natural Medicine, told Business of Cannabis: “For the past three years, I’ve been Director or Head of Marketing and Sales for Grecan. Up until about ten days ago, we didn’t have a product we could actually sell. We had cannabis, but I like to say we were ‘in the weed business, now, we’re making medical products.’
The European, and indeed global, medical cannabis markets are dominated by exports from the mature and recreationally focused Canadian market.
Just last week, new figures from Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) showed that the total quantity of medical cannabis flower imported into Europe’s largest market in Q2, 2025, hit 43.3 tonnes, over 20 of which came from Canada.
With Canadian producers able to produce cannabis at a fraction of the cost, this torrent of imports is driving a race to the bottom on price, a dynamic already taking hold in Germany.
Some markets like Israel and Australia are already pushing back against the dominance of Canadian cannabis, and both are considering measures to prioritise local producers to not only support local business but also guarantee the quality of product available to patients.
Grecan, according to Folcarelli, is hoping to pre-empt this pushback and position itself as a ‘Europe-first’ producer.
“We produce about 400–600 kilos a month, much smaller than Canadian facilities that can produce that from a single room. But we’re doing craft,” he explained.
“We don’t import Canadian flowers and repackage them. We grow everything ourselves in Thessaloniki, using top European genetics from Spanabis and Cannabis Cup winners, European-sourced equipment, and a fully integrated EU GMP process.
“Because we’re based in Europe, we don’t have the cost of flying product across the Atlantic, handling it in Portugal, and then sending it to Germany or the UK. It’s a single, efficient step from our facility to our customers.”
The company currently works with twelve genetics, each with carefully selected phenotypes optimised for cannabinoid profile, terpene expression, pest resistance, and yield.
“Our quality is closer to craft, but our prices are competitive with more mainstream products. We’re not the cheapest, and never will be, but we’re also not chasing unsustainable low prices.”
Greece’s domestic medical cannabis market remains small, and imports are banned, meaning everything sold locally must be grown in-country.
Currently, only three medical cannabis flower strains are available to Greek patients, all produced by Tikun Olam.
Domestic production in Greece is planned to increase as more companies receive operational licences, with Curity Pharma receiving an operational licence in March 2025 from the relevant regulatory authorities of the Ministries of Development, Health and Rural Development.
With the domestic market seeing steady, but slow growth, producers are looking towards the larger European opportunity.
Grecan is targeting the two largest European markets first, signing its first agreement with a client in Germany this month, with another two currently being finalised.
Folcarelli says the company is also in ‘advanced talks’ with a British company, and expects to be the ‘first Greek company to export medical cannabis flower to the UK by September.’
Ambitions aside, the issue of market saturation and price compression driven by Canada’s relentless supply volumes makes either market all the more difficult to break into.
In Germany, where a market crackdown is looming, Grecan hopes to differentiate itself on quality.
“Short-term, yes, there’s oversupply. But I think the crackdown will shift the market. There are concerns over quality, with some products being irradiated or having microbial issues,” Folcarelli continued.
“We know how to produce without irradiation, which is important in Germany because irradiated products go through a slower, more complex approval process.
“As for telemedicine, I don’t think it will disappear. COVID changed the game, patients and doctors are used to video consultations now. The German government doesn’t have the manpower to fully reverse that.”
With two strains, Boom Voyage and Isaac Newton, currently being grown by the company, and 150kg already in stock, Grecan is expecting to hit German pharmacies in the coming weeks.
The post As Canada Floods Europe with Cannabis, Greek Producer Pushes Local, High-Quality Alternative appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
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In February 2024, following a seven-year battle, medical cannabis was made available to patients for the first time in what was described as a ‘new era for healthcare’ in the country.
A year on, and the market is growing steadily. According to the latest figures from Prohibition Partners Insights Hub, Greece’s estimated medical market size for 2025 is over €13 million.
While its domestic market is still in its infancy, this regulatory progress has injected fresh momentum into the country’s cultivation sector, spurring the emergence of multiple new companies.
One such company is Grecan Natural Medicine, which recently became one of just a handful of companies to receive EU-GMP certification, opening the door to Europe and beyond.
Americo Folcarelli, Director of Sales and Marketing at Grecan Natural Medicine, told Business of Cannabis: “For the past three years, I’ve been Director or Head of Marketing and Sales for Grecan. Up until about ten days ago, we didn’t have a product we could actually sell. We had cannabis, but I like to say we were ‘in the weed business, now, we’re making medical products.’
A ‘Europe-first’ philosophy
The European, and indeed global, medical cannabis markets are dominated by exports from the mature and recreationally focused Canadian market.
Just last week, new figures from Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) showed that the total quantity of medical cannabis flower imported into Europe’s largest market in Q2, 2025, hit 43.3 tonnes, over 20 of which came from Canada.
With Canadian producers able to produce cannabis at a fraction of the cost, this torrent of imports is driving a race to the bottom on price, a dynamic already taking hold in Germany.
Some markets like Israel and Australia are already pushing back against the dominance of Canadian cannabis, and both are considering measures to prioritise local producers to not only support local business but also guarantee the quality of product available to patients.
Grecan, according to Folcarelli, is hoping to pre-empt this pushback and position itself as a ‘Europe-first’ producer.
“We produce about 400–600 kilos a month, much smaller than Canadian facilities that can produce that from a single room. But we’re doing craft,” he explained.
“We don’t import Canadian flowers and repackage them. We grow everything ourselves in Thessaloniki, using top European genetics from Spanabis and Cannabis Cup winners, European-sourced equipment, and a fully integrated EU GMP process.
“Because we’re based in Europe, we don’t have the cost of flying product across the Atlantic, handling it in Portugal, and then sending it to Germany or the UK. It’s a single, efficient step from our facility to our customers.”
The company currently works with twelve genetics, each with carefully selected phenotypes optimised for cannabinoid profile, terpene expression, pest resistance, and yield.
“Our quality is closer to craft, but our prices are competitive with more mainstream products. We’re not the cheapest, and never will be, but we’re also not chasing unsustainable low prices.”
Small domestic market, big export ambitions
Greece’s domestic medical cannabis market remains small, and imports are banned, meaning everything sold locally must be grown in-country.
Currently, only three medical cannabis flower strains are available to Greek patients, all produced by Tikun Olam.
Domestic production in Greece is planned to increase as more companies receive operational licences, with Curity Pharma receiving an operational licence in March 2025 from the relevant regulatory authorities of the Ministries of Development, Health and Rural Development.
With the domestic market seeing steady, but slow growth, producers are looking towards the larger European opportunity.
Grecan is targeting the two largest European markets first, signing its first agreement with a client in Germany this month, with another two currently being finalised.
Folcarelli says the company is also in ‘advanced talks’ with a British company, and expects to be the ‘first Greek company to export medical cannabis flower to the UK by September.’
Ambitions aside, the issue of market saturation and price compression driven by Canada’s relentless supply volumes makes either market all the more difficult to break into.
In Germany, where a market crackdown is looming, Grecan hopes to differentiate itself on quality.
“Short-term, yes, there’s oversupply. But I think the crackdown will shift the market. There are concerns over quality, with some products being irradiated or having microbial issues,” Folcarelli continued.
“We know how to produce without irradiation, which is important in Germany because irradiated products go through a slower, more complex approval process.
“As for telemedicine, I don’t think it will disappear. COVID changed the game, patients and doctors are used to video consultations now. The German government doesn’t have the manpower to fully reverse that.”
With two strains, Boom Voyage and Isaac Newton, currently being grown by the company, and 150kg already in stock, Grecan is expecting to hit German pharmacies in the coming weeks.
The post As Canada Floods Europe with Cannabis, Greek Producer Pushes Local, High-Quality Alternative appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
