Ever since the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) became the largest party in Germany’s ruling coalition government in February 2025, the country’s booming cannabis industry has been bracing for a crackdown.
Even before the election, when the CDU looked likely to capitalise on the political chaos that had preceded its eventual inauguration, the party made its intentions to roll back the recently enacted CanG act as soon as it entered the Bundestag.
In its election manifesto, the CDU/CSU pledged to ‘abolish the previous government’s cannabis law,’ stating that it ‘protects dealers and exposes our children and young people to drug use and addiction’, and its anti-CanG rhetoric predictably accelerated once the results were formalised.
Legislative efforts to make good on their threats and reverse many of the changes which have enabled Germany’s medical cannabis market’s rapid expansion are still in process.
Following months of inaction, seemingly immovable barriers to implementation from its coalition partners in the SPD, and millions of Euros flowing into the industry from across the world, the CDU’s die-hard position may be beginning to shift.
Germany’s ever-shifting cannabis market, the positive examples of pilot trials in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and the impact of all these factors on the wider European industry will be explored in detail at the European Cannabis Insights Summit in Berlin later this month. Join 200 cannabis leaders for the half-day, data-rich event, and get your hands on actionable proprietary market data from Prohibition Partners.
SECURE YOUR SEAT NOW
Last month, during an interview with RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland , Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner Dr Hendrik Streeck said he would be ‘personally open’ to the long-anticipated adult-use cannabis pilot projects.
The pilot projects, part of so-called ‘Pillar 2’ in Germany’s original CanG act, have all but been forgotten as attention has focused on the largely unexpected explosion in the medical market.
Where Pillar 1 legalised home cultivation and non-commercial cannabis social clubs, alongside making fundamental changes to the medical framework under MedCanG, Pillar 2 was aimed at exploring a commercial adult-use framework.
Although still a far cry from its initial plans for Canada-style fully regulated legalisation, Pillar 2’s pilot projects promised licensed specialist shops selling cannabis to adults, underpinned by regulated domestic production and wholesale supply chains. The framework was designed to be scientifically evaluated over five years, generating data on public health outcomes, youth access, and the impact on the black market before any decision on permanent commercialisation.
Politics, as ever, got in the way of Pillar 2 being enacted. The traffic-light coalition, which pushed CanG over the line, enacted Pillar 1 but ran out of time before Pillar 2 could be legislated, leaving it as an intention on paper rather than law.
With the CDU promising a dramatic swing backwards, the pilot projects were widely assumed to be a lost cause.
Now, in an apparent concession to the overwhelming demand from the German population, has signalled a potential willingness to resurrect the project.
Recognising that around five million Germans now regularly consume cannabis, Streeck told RND: “We cannot ignore that. It’s no use either sugarcoating a law or pretending that we can simply reverse the trend without considering the reality.”
Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner, Dr Hendrik Streeck
The German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW) welcomed Streeck’s intervention, noting that several BvCW member companies have already submitted model project proposals to the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).
“Successful pilot projects in neighbouring European countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands have already demonstrated that such scientific endeavours function smoothly in practice,” the association said in a statement.
Echoing the industry’s frustrations with the current framework, Steeck added: “If cultivation associations are regulated in such a complicated way that they barely function, there is no control, but rather evasive behavior, then we need to have an honest discussion about simplification.
“Those who need cannabis for medical purposes must continue to receive it. But the medical route must not become a substitute for recreational use. We need to draw a clearer line between the two,”
This, however, was far from outright advocacy. Streeck caveated his willingness to explore pilot projects, stating that these should be heavily restricted: “No normalisation, no commercial expansion, no advertising, no distribution to young adults. Very limited quantities would be conceivable, around five grams, distribution only to people over 25, and close scientific monitoring.”
Alex Khourdaji, Lead Analyst at Prohibition Partners, told Business of Cannabis: “Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner, Dr Hendrik Streeck’s position on Pillar 2 progression, is a breath of fresh air, hopefully that use of air will materialise to actual progress.
“The positive results of pilot projects in Switzerland and the Netherlands have definitely influenced the discourse on cannabis legalisation in the region. Highlighting the importance of scientific trials and data in further evolving the industry. Additionally, following the boom of the medical cannabis market, I reckon the German government is beginning to accept that there is a large consumer base in Germany and that legalisation with taxation might have a positive economic impact”
Despite losing momentum in its efforts to reverse the changes to the MedCanG bill, which removed medical cannabis from the list of narcotic substances and cleared the path for the rapid growth seen since April 2024, the CDU’s concerns are not purely partisan.
Caution surrounding the blurring of concrete lines between the medical and recreational markets is shared more widely throughout the coalition, and even within some prominent industry players.
According to Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), covering Q1 2026, Germany imported 50,539 kg of cannabis flower in Q1 2026, marking a 16.8% fall on Q4 2025’s 60,772 kg, and the first quarterly decline since the CanG took effect in April 2024.
DOCTYPE html>
Q1 2026 — cannabis flower imports by supplier country (kg)
Canada supplied 26,753 kg in Q1 2026, followed by Portugal (10,342 kg), Denmark (3,338 kg) and Czech Republic (2,041 kg).
Source: BfArM tabular import data, Q1 2026 release (May 2026). Cannabis flowers only.
That drop follows a year in which flower imports totalled 205,241 kg, up from 72,850 kg in 2024. BfArM itself notes that “although import declarations must be submitted immediately by law, occasional delays or subsequent corrections may occur”, meaning the Q1 figure may yet be revised.
Despite signs of a potential slowing of growth, Q1 2026 imports were still around 34% higher than Q1 2025’s 37,686 kg. Canada, which supplied 26,753 kg in Q1 2026, remained the dominant exporter at 53% of the total, remaining essentially flat quarter-on-quarter.
The decline was concentrated in other major exporters. Portugal fell 21% to 10,342 kg, Australia dropped 65%, and Malta’s exports collapsed 95% from Q4’s 1,772 kg to just 95 kg. Denmark was the notable exception, rising 61% to 3,338 kg.
DOCTYPE html>
Germany — quarterly cannabis flower imports (kg)
Imports peaked at 60,772 kg in Q4 2025 and fell to 50,539 kg in Q1 2026, the first quarterly decline since CanG took effect.
Source: BfArM (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte) — cannabis flower imports only. Quarterly figures from BfArM bar chart, Q1 2026 release (May 2026). BfArM notes occasional delays or corrections may occur after publication.
According to the CDU, a key indicator of the overlap between medical and recreational usage is the divergence between prescriptions paid for directly by patients and those reimbursed under statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, or GKV).
Streeck noted that total medical cannabis imports rose 170% between the first and second half of 2024, while prescriptions covered by statutory health insurance grew only 9%. Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) attributes the gap directly to online platforms being used as a backdoor to recreational supply.
GKV reimbursed €249m in cannabis spending in the full-year 2025, with dried flower the single largest category at €125m.
In March 2026, the Finance Commission for Health recommended removing flower from the GKV benefits catalogue entirely. Standardised extracts and approved finished medicines such as dronabinol and nabilone would remain reimbursable; flower would become a self-pay item. The commission estimates savings of around €130m in 2027, rising to €180m by 2030.
The Association of Cannabis-Dispensing Pharmacies (VCA) and the German Association of the Pharmaceutical Cannabis Industry (BPC) have both rejected the recommendation, warning that removing reimbursement would force patients off therapy or toward uncontrolled supply.
Although the recommendation is not yet law, Dirk Heitepriem, President of the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW), told delegates at Cannabis Europa London last week: “That is an attack on the really, really ill people. “We are moving from ‘we don’t like potential recreational users entering the medical market’ to ‘we will take away the reimbursement from people who are genuinely sick.’ That is a brutal idea.”
His continued: “The stronger the industry represents itself as one voice, the better. Join your industry associations, work with patient groups, with doctors, and with pharmacies. Build common positions. That is the only way this works.”
The post Germany’s Drug Commissioner Backs Cannabis Pilot Projects in Break With CDU Party Line appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
Even before the election, when the CDU looked likely to capitalise on the political chaos that had preceded its eventual inauguration, the party made its intentions to roll back the recently enacted CanG act as soon as it entered the Bundestag.
In its election manifesto, the CDU/CSU pledged to ‘abolish the previous government’s cannabis law,’ stating that it ‘protects dealers and exposes our children and young people to drug use and addiction’, and its anti-CanG rhetoric predictably accelerated once the results were formalised.
Legislative efforts to make good on their threats and reverse many of the changes which have enabled Germany’s medical cannabis market’s rapid expansion are still in process.
Following months of inaction, seemingly immovable barriers to implementation from its coalition partners in the SPD, and millions of Euros flowing into the industry from across the world, the CDU’s die-hard position may be beginning to shift.
Germany’s ever-shifting cannabis market, the positive examples of pilot trials in Switzerland and the Netherlands, and the impact of all these factors on the wider European industry will be explored in detail at the European Cannabis Insights Summit in Berlin later this month. Join 200 cannabis leaders for the half-day, data-rich event, and get your hands on actionable proprietary market data from Prohibition Partners.
SECURE YOUR SEAT NOW
Streeck breaks rank
Last month, during an interview with RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland , Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner Dr Hendrik Streeck said he would be ‘personally open’ to the long-anticipated adult-use cannabis pilot projects.
The pilot projects, part of so-called ‘Pillar 2’ in Germany’s original CanG act, have all but been forgotten as attention has focused on the largely unexpected explosion in the medical market.
Where Pillar 1 legalised home cultivation and non-commercial cannabis social clubs, alongside making fundamental changes to the medical framework under MedCanG, Pillar 2 was aimed at exploring a commercial adult-use framework.
Although still a far cry from its initial plans for Canada-style fully regulated legalisation, Pillar 2’s pilot projects promised licensed specialist shops selling cannabis to adults, underpinned by regulated domestic production and wholesale supply chains. The framework was designed to be scientifically evaluated over five years, generating data on public health outcomes, youth access, and the impact on the black market before any decision on permanent commercialisation.
Politics, as ever, got in the way of Pillar 2 being enacted. The traffic-light coalition, which pushed CanG over the line, enacted Pillar 1 but ran out of time before Pillar 2 could be legislated, leaving it as an intention on paper rather than law.
With the CDU promising a dramatic swing backwards, the pilot projects were widely assumed to be a lost cause.
Now, in an apparent concession to the overwhelming demand from the German population, has signalled a potential willingness to resurrect the project.
Recognising that around five million Germans now regularly consume cannabis, Streeck told RND: “We cannot ignore that. It’s no use either sugarcoating a law or pretending that we can simply reverse the trend without considering the reality.”
Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner, Dr Hendrik Streeck
The German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW) welcomed Streeck’s intervention, noting that several BvCW member companies have already submitted model project proposals to the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE).
“Successful pilot projects in neighbouring European countries like Switzerland and the Netherlands have already demonstrated that such scientific endeavours function smoothly in practice,” the association said in a statement.
Echoing the industry’s frustrations with the current framework, Steeck added: “If cultivation associations are regulated in such a complicated way that they barely function, there is no control, but rather evasive behavior, then we need to have an honest discussion about simplification.
“Those who need cannabis for medical purposes must continue to receive it. But the medical route must not become a substitute for recreational use. We need to draw a clearer line between the two,”
This, however, was far from outright advocacy. Streeck caveated his willingness to explore pilot projects, stating that these should be heavily restricted: “No normalisation, no commercial expansion, no advertising, no distribution to young adults. Very limited quantities would be conceivable, around five grams, distribution only to people over 25, and close scientific monitoring.”
Alex Khourdaji, Lead Analyst at Prohibition Partners, told Business of Cannabis: “Germany’s Federal Drug Commissioner, Dr Hendrik Streeck’s position on Pillar 2 progression, is a breath of fresh air, hopefully that use of air will materialise to actual progress.
“The positive results of pilot projects in Switzerland and the Netherlands have definitely influenced the discourse on cannabis legalisation in the region. Highlighting the importance of scientific trials and data in further evolving the industry. Additionally, following the boom of the medical cannabis market, I reckon the German government is beginning to accept that there is a large consumer base in Germany and that legalisation with taxation might have a positive economic impact”
READ MORE…
Germany’s Drug Commissioner Backs Cannabis Pilot Projects in Break With CDU Party Line
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What’s happening in the medical market?
Despite losing momentum in its efforts to reverse the changes to the MedCanG bill, which removed medical cannabis from the list of narcotic substances and cleared the path for the rapid growth seen since April 2024, the CDU’s concerns are not purely partisan.
Caution surrounding the blurring of concrete lines between the medical and recreational markets is shared more widely throughout the coalition, and even within some prominent industry players.
According to Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), covering Q1 2026, Germany imported 50,539 kg of cannabis flower in Q1 2026, marking a 16.8% fall on Q4 2025’s 60,772 kg, and the first quarterly decline since the CanG took effect in April 2024.
DOCTYPE html>
Q1 2026 — cannabis flower imports by supplier country (kg)
Canada supplied 26,753 kg in Q1 2026, followed by Portugal (10,342 kg), Denmark (3,338 kg) and Czech Republic (2,041 kg).
Source: BfArM tabular import data, Q1 2026 release (May 2026). Cannabis flowers only.
That drop follows a year in which flower imports totalled 205,241 kg, up from 72,850 kg in 2024. BfArM itself notes that “although import declarations must be submitted immediately by law, occasional delays or subsequent corrections may occur”, meaning the Q1 figure may yet be revised.
Despite signs of a potential slowing of growth, Q1 2026 imports were still around 34% higher than Q1 2025’s 37,686 kg. Canada, which supplied 26,753 kg in Q1 2026, remained the dominant exporter at 53% of the total, remaining essentially flat quarter-on-quarter.
The decline was concentrated in other major exporters. Portugal fell 21% to 10,342 kg, Australia dropped 65%, and Malta’s exports collapsed 95% from Q4’s 1,772 kg to just 95 kg. Denmark was the notable exception, rising 61% to 3,338 kg.
DOCTYPE html>
Germany — quarterly cannabis flower imports (kg)
Imports peaked at 60,772 kg in Q4 2025 and fell to 50,539 kg in Q1 2026, the first quarterly decline since CanG took effect.
Source: BfArM (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte) — cannabis flower imports only. Quarterly figures from BfArM bar chart, Q1 2026 release (May 2026). BfArM notes occasional delays or corrections may occur after publication.
A ‘brutal idea’
According to the CDU, a key indicator of the overlap between medical and recreational usage is the divergence between prescriptions paid for directly by patients and those reimbursed under statutory health insurance (Gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, or GKV).
Streeck noted that total medical cannabis imports rose 170% between the first and second half of 2024, while prescriptions covered by statutory health insurance grew only 9%. Health Minister Nina Warken (CDU) attributes the gap directly to online platforms being used as a backdoor to recreational supply.
GKV reimbursed €249m in cannabis spending in the full-year 2025, with dried flower the single largest category at €125m.
In March 2026, the Finance Commission for Health recommended removing flower from the GKV benefits catalogue entirely. Standardised extracts and approved finished medicines such as dronabinol and nabilone would remain reimbursable; flower would become a self-pay item. The commission estimates savings of around €130m in 2027, rising to €180m by 2030.
The Association of Cannabis-Dispensing Pharmacies (VCA) and the German Association of the Pharmaceutical Cannabis Industry (BPC) have both rejected the recommendation, warning that removing reimbursement would force patients off therapy or toward uncontrolled supply.
Although the recommendation is not yet law, Dirk Heitepriem, President of the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW), told delegates at Cannabis Europa London last week: “That is an attack on the really, really ill people. “We are moving from ‘we don’t like potential recreational users entering the medical market’ to ‘we will take away the reimbursement from people who are genuinely sick.’ That is a brutal idea.”
His continued: “The stronger the industry represents itself as one voice, the better. Join your industry associations, work with patient groups, with doctors, and with pharmacies. Build common positions. That is the only way this works.”
The post Germany’s Drug Commissioner Backs Cannabis Pilot Projects in Break With CDU Party Line appeared first on Business of Cannabis.
Continue reading...
