'The task of culture is to press into service everything formidable, individually, gradually and tentatively; but until it is strong enough to do so it must combat, moderate, conceal and even curse these things.
Wherever a culture regards something as evil, it is an expression of fear and therefore of weakness...
Thesis: everything good is a former evil which has been rendered serviceable.
Standard: the greater and more formidable the passions which an age, a people or an individual allow themselves, because they are able to use them as a means, the higher their culture is (the realm of evil is becoming ever smaller...).
The more mediocre, weak, servile and cowardly a man is, the more things he will regard as evil: according to him the realm of evil is the most extensive. The most inferior man sees the realm of evil (i.e. that which is forbidden to him and hostile to him) everywhere.'
- Dionysus, The Will to Power, Friedrich Nietzsche
As the pressure on the world built up with the anti-cannabis forces consolidating their position through the fake pandemic Covid, and as authoritarian governments blatantly violated democratic norms and as the elite ruling classes tightened their hold on the lower classes, Germany became the biggest, most powerful, and most influential nation in the world to legalize recreational cannabis. The efforts of successive governments, irrespective of political affiliations, finally bore fruit in April 2024. Nietzsche wrote in The Will to Power, 'From the pressure of superabundance, from the excitement of energies which are continually growing within us and which we do not yet know how to discharge, a condition arises like that which precedes a thunderstorm, our own nature darkens. That, too, is pessimism...A doctrine which puts an end to such a condition by commanding something, a revaluation of values by virtue of which the accumulated energies are shown a way, a whereto, so that they explode into action and flashes of lightning - such a doctrine by no means needs to teach happiness; for by releasing pent-up energy which has compressed to an agonizing degree, it brings happiness.'
In April 2024, MJBizDaily reported that 'Germany’s cannabis law took effect Monday, making it the second Group of Seven country to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis nationally. Canada became the first G7 nation to legalize in 2018. Germany’s recently approved law legalizes cannabis possession for adults of up to 25 grams (0.88 ounces). It also: [a]llows for the cultivation of up to three plants per household; [r]emoves cannabis from the narcotics list; sets the stage for “cannabis clubs” to open later this year. While the law was heralded as legalization and marks a significant milestone by ending prohibition, it stops short of laying a legal foundation for the commercial provision of recreational cannabis to consumers. Unlike American-style legalization and regulation of marijuana, which generally leans heavily into commerce and relies on capitalist systems, Germany chose a different path – for now.' In the last week of March 2024, MJBizDaily had reported that, 'Germany’s landmark recreational cannabis law will go into effect on April 1 after clearing the final regulatory hurdle on Friday. The Bundesrat, the upper house of the German Parliament, failed to reach a majority to convene the Mediation Committee, clearing the last potential delay to approval, ABC News reported. The law, approved a month ago in the Bundestag by a 407-226 vote, generally decriminalizes cannabis, allows for home grows and lays the legal framework for so-called “cultivation social clubs” – nonprofit organizations where members can acquire marijuana for recreational use. However, the law stops short of establishing a regulated retail and distribution system for adult-use products, akin to more than 20 American states.' In the last week of February 2024, Marijuana Moment had reported that 'Germany’s parliament has officially approved a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide. Two days after the cannabis legislation was considered by eight committees of the Bundestag, the full body voted 407-226 on final passage on Friday. The bill—which will make possession and home cultivation legal and authorize social clubs that can distribute marijuana to members—now heads to the Bundesrat, a separate legislative chamber that represents German states, though its members cannot stop the reform from being enacted. While supporters have said legalization would take effect in April if it’s enacted, there are new questions about that timeline. The Bundesrat may move to refer the legislation to a mediation committee to address criminal justice-related implications of the law, which could mean several months of additional discussion.' The impact of a country like Germany - one of the G7 nations, one of the powerhouses of Europe and one of the biggest economies in the world - legalizing cannabis for recreational use was so significant that it made the news in many cannabis-averse media publications whose normal cannabis reporting is limited to drug seizures and articles promoting the anti-cannabis propaganda. The Deccan Herald reported that 'Berlin: Germany on Friday joined a small group of countries and jurisdictions that have legalised cannabis when the Bundestag passed a law allowing individuals and voluntary associations to grow and hold limited quantities of the drug. The law passed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling three-party coalition legalises cultivating up to three plants for private consumption and owning up to 25 grams of cannabis. Larger-scale, but still non-commercial, cannabis production will be allowed for members of so-called cannabis clubs with no more than 500 members, all of whom must be adults. Only club members can consume their product. "We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and the improved protection of children and young people," Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said at the start of a rowdy debate where the opposition accused him of promoting drug use.' Germany was in discussion with other nations that are seeing cannabis legalization initiatives in the past few years. Marijuana Moment reported in November 2023 that 'Government officials from multiple countries, including the U.S., are meeting in Germany to discuss international marijuana policy issues as the host nation works to enact legalization. Representatives of about 10 counties are convening for the second International Forum for Sustainable Cannabis Regulation (IFSCR) on Tuesday, with the main focus being on establishing a global framework for marijuana policy, while also giving participants an opportunity to speak about their own domestic developments. In addition to Germany and the U.S., the forum will also feature government representatives from Canada, Colombia, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Czech Republic. Of those nations, Canada and Malta hav already enacted cannabis legalization. Lawmakers in Mexico have been working to end prohibition for the past few years after the country’s Supreme Court deemed the policy unconstitutional. And a bill to legalize cannabis is also advancing in Colombia.' In August 2023, Marijuana Moment reported that 'Germany’s federal cabinet has approved a draft marijuana legalization bill, sending the first part of the government’s cannabis reform plan to the country’s legislature for consideration. Members of the cabinet voted in favor of advancing the legislation, spearheaded by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, after discussing the measure at a meeting on Wednesday. The proposal, which was unveiled last month , would allow adults to legally possess cannabis and cultivate a maximum of three plants for personal use. It would also create social clubs that could distribute marijuana to members, with purchase limits for people over the age of 21 of 25 grams of cannabis per day—up to a total of 50 grams per month—and a lower 30 grams per month limit for those between the ages of 18 and 21. Those facilities could not be located within 200 meters of a school, and each given city or district could only have one club for every 6,000 residents, and there would be a limit of 500 members per club. A social club permit would be valid for up to seven years, with the possibility of receiving an extension after five years. Membership to the clubs would have to last at least two months under the draft bill.' Recreational cannabis initially faced opposition in parliament. In November 2020 MJBizDaily reported that 'The German federal parliament rejected a bill to legalize a “strictly controlled” adult-use cannabis market, dealing a major setback to recreational marijuana reform efforts in that country. The rejection came despite the fact that a majority of the members of the Bundestang belong to a political party that favors some type of reform.'
When Germany legalized cannabis for recreational purposes in April 2024, it took me by surprise. I had not seen it coming. Yes, Germany had been the leading consumer of medical cannabis in Europe for some time now, but I did not expect it to make the leap to recreational cannabis legalization. But then, I guess, the step forward had become a necessity. With medical cannabis hugely popular among the German population, and the numbers enrolling for it increasing by the day, it was inevitable that Germany would soon face a shortage of cannabis. Most of its medical cannabis came from Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands, with Australia also looking to export to Germany. All these are sources of legal cannabis, mind you. Besides this, there is the illegal cannabis that was flowing into Germany from possibly places like Afghanistan, India, Morocco, Cote d'Ivoire and the Netherlands long before the medical cannabis industry started. In fact, like in most other places, the illegal recreational use of cannabis had a community right through the years of prohibition. It is from these recreational users that the benefits of cannabis as medicine spread to the wider community, much like in the cannabis smoking regions of California. In both cases - California and Germany - the introduction of medical cannabis was hugely successful. Despite the myths created about the harms of cannabis, much of Germany's adult and elderly population were well aware of the benefits of cannabis and the falsity of cannabis prohibition. The latest scientific evidence emerging from legalized societies in the US and Canada, as well as the research findings of top scientific institutions were only confirming what had been proven as long back as in the 19th century in India, when the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1894-95 reported that cannabis had vast medicinal, entheogenic, social and economic benefits, especially for the poorest sections of society in India who formed the working classes, indigenous communities, minorities and the outcasts. The Hemp Commission submitted its report stating that cannabis should not be prohibited, it should only be regulated. The ruling British administration and the ruling Indian upper classes and castes banded together and, instead, pushed for cannabis prohibition and eventually got it prohibited, despite being fully aware of the impact on the poorer sections of society - who formed the majority - both of the deprivation of cannabis and its replacement by opium, alcohol, tobacco and western pharmaceutical medicine. Coming back to Germany, it should be obvious that a society that has seen the medical benefits of cannabis on sections of the population will then choose to incorporate cannabis in the mix of legal medicines and intoxicants. Also given that these sections of society who use medical cannabis in Germany form mostly the elite classes, it is obvious that these sections have also tried methamphetamine, opioids, cocaine, synthetic cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, novel psychotropic substances and abuses prescription medication and have found these inadequate to meet health and intoxication needs. My guess is that a major part of the medical consumers of cannabis are elderly upper-class individuals. This base of regular consumers of cannabis as medicine has steadily increased in number as well as in the amount of cannabis consumed. With more of the middle-class demanding access to medical cannabis, Germany has been experiencing cannabis supply shortages, especially given that the same set of countries - Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel and Uruguay - supply most of the medical cannabis to an increasing number of well-to-do nations in Europe and Oceania who are, ironically, the very same nations that got together and prohibited cannabis globally. The official reasons cited by the German government for legalizing cannabis for recreational use are to reduce crime and to protect the youth. It is most likely that the recognition by German society of cannabis as valuable, safe, affordable, universal medicine is also a very significant reason why it has gone ahead with legalization for recreational purposes. This enables cannabis to reach a wider audience, especially the poorer sections of society that are typically left out of medical cannabis.
In legalizing cannabis for recreational purposes, Germany hopes to stimulate local cultivation so as to meet at least some of its cannabis needs. Groups of up to one hundred members can form cannabis clubs to pool in their resources, grow, and share the cannabis amongst themselves. Individuals are allowed to grow three cannabis planta at homes. Retail sales of cannabis is currently not envisioned. For retail sales to happen, there has to be enough cannabis to meet one's own needs and then to sell to the general public. Germany is currently at the stage of first ensuring that there is enough cannabis to meet individual needs. Possibly with stimulated local cultivation of cannabis, and trade with other nations, there will be sufficient cannabis in the near future to enable retail sales. MJBizDaily reported in April 2024 that German cannabis imports had risen to 34 tons per annum, stating. 'Constantin von der Groeben, managing director of the German company Demecan, told MJBizDaily that, as of April 1, companies can apply for a cultivation license. “We foresee a huge growth potential for our own cultivation,” he said, indicating Demecan can apply to increase cultivation beyond the previous maximum production quota. However, Germany is still expected to need significant cannabis imports in the near- to midterm. “It depends strongly on the ramp-up of domestic cultivation,” Von der Groeben said of how long Germany would rely on imports. The Demecan executive cited Article 21 of the United Nations' Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which he said implies that if and when the demand for cannabis can be filled domestically, no imports would be required or allowed. “But this is probably still a few years out,” he said.'
Germany began its medical cannabis initiatives around the middle of 2017. By August 2020, Germany was getting its medical cannabis mainly from Canadian companies like Aurora through their local subsidiaries. The German medical cannabis company Demacan had also grown significant. MJBizDaily reported that 'The company, located in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region, will provide logistics, wholesale and distribution services to the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM). To do that, Cansativa will deliver to German pharmacies the cannabis flower grown by the German subsidiaries of Canadian-based Aurora Cannabis and Aphria, as well as Germany-headquartered Demecan.' MJBizDaily reported that 'Contracts between Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices and the three companies it tentatively selected to cultivate and distribute its medical cannabis could be formalized as early as Wednesday after a mandatory 10-day appeals process expires. Ontario, Canada-based Wayland Group – through its joint venture with Berlin-based Demecan – and the German subsidiaries of Canadian companies Aphria and Aurora Cannabis were chosen earlier this month to provide product for what is one of the largest medical cannabis markets in the world. Each was evaluated based on a points system focused on infrastructure, quality standards, security plans and price.' MJBizDaily reported in 2019 that 'Germany was the main destination for Canada’s dried cannabis. Just over 94% of the 3,740.232 kilograms of dried product exported from Canada last year went to the European Union country. Germany imported roughly 6,714 kilograms of medical cannabis flower in 2019 from all destinations – both for pharmacy dispensing and redistribution in the EU – meaning Canada provided 52% of Germany’s imported flower. Most of the rest came from the Netherlands.' By October 2020, Germany was also quietly importing medical cannabis from Uruguay, sometimes using roundabout routes. MJBizDaily reported that 'Medical cannabis flower grown in Uruguay recently became available in the German market for the first time. The news sheds light on the final destination of large exports quietly shipped from Uruguay to Portugal at the end of 2019 and earlier this year, as first reported by Marijuana Business Daily. The shipments’ final destinations were unknown at the time. But the latest development shows the product ultimately was headed to Germany.' In October 2020, MJBizDaily reported that 'Canada is not the only supplier for the import-dependent German market. Others include: The Netherlands, which remains a leading flower supplier of the German market; Uruguay, whose flower was shipped to Germany via Portugal recently under the Tilray brand; Tilray flower was cultivated in Portugal; Spanish licensed producer Linneo, which recently became a supplier of flower for the German, Israeli and United Kingdom markets. In all cases, the products are sold under other brands. Aphria is one of the only three in-country growers of medical cannabis in Germany.' In March 2021, MJBizDaily reported that Germany was being supplied medical cannabis by the Canadian company Aurora through its subsidiary in Denmark. It stated that '“We started to deliver to the first pharmacies who ordered the product from us,” Yvonne Moeller, the company’s director of communications for Europe, told Marijuana Business Daily via email. She said more than 150 pharmacies have the products, which were made at Aurora Nordic in Denmark. “Last week, the (first) medical cannabis products ‘Made in Denmark’ reached German pharmacies,” Aurora Deutschland GmbH announced on LinkedIn. The move is part of Aurora’s plan to meet demand in the EU using its European-based production.' In April 2021, Reuters reported that Germany was also looking to source medical cannabis from Lesotho, stating that, 'MG Health chief executive Andre Bothma said the firm had received certification to export cannabis flower as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) under the EU's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) protocol. "What this means is that we have authorisation to export our products as an API into Germany and the wider European market. We expect to start in June," he said on the sidelines of a media event with his Munich-based import partner, Drapalin Pharmaceuticals.' Despite trying to source cannabis from different nations, Canadian companies remain the primary source of cannabis for Germany, either through direct exports or through subsidiaries in neighbouring European countries. Business Wire reported in July 2021 that 'Since Germany’s Cannabis as Medicines Act was enacted in March 2017, the country has relied exclusively on imports to meet the growing medical demand currently estimated at well over 100,000 patients. Tilray’s ongoing domestic harvest and production will play an indispensable role in ensuring that patient needs are met with products of the highest quality medical cannabis while at the same time reducing dependence on imported supply.' In August 2021, Forbes reported that 'Although the German medical cannabis market is at an early stage, it has shown great potential, and its future seems promising. However, it will take time to see how domestic production will affect imports, and how medical cannabis development in Germany will influence the growth of other European markets.' In September 2021, MJBizDaily reported that 'In the meantime, Germany’s medical market continues to grow. Faes pegs the medical market there at about 300 million euros ($354 million), making it the second-biggest federally regulated medical market in the world, behind Canada. Germany is on pace to become the biggest fully legal medical market in the world by next year.' MJBizDaily reported in April 2023 that 'Germany imported a record amount of marijuana for medical and scientific use in 2022, according to fresh data from the country’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM). While the top-line number suggests the import business is booming, a deeper look shows that 2022 posted the slowest annual growth since the BfArM started reporting cannabis import data in 2018. Moreover, a good chunk of those imports appears to have never reached patients, possibly because of poor quality or product being reexported to another country, experts suggest. In 2022, nearly 25,000 kilograms (27.6 tons) of cannabis were imported into Germany for medical or scientific purposes, an increase of 19% over the 20,769 kilograms imported in 2021.' Finally, the moves to legalize recreational use started taking concrete shape under German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. In April 2023, Marijuana Moment reported that 'The new plan is a two-part model—first reported by Zeit—which appears to be an attempt by German officials to legalize cannabis as broadly as possible without running afoul of EU rules. First, the policy change would reportedly allow limited marijuana sales in certain areas—akin to a regional pilot program—for a period of four years. That would allow officials to see the impact of reform both in big cities and more rural locations. If the program is deemed a success, it could be extended to other parts of the country. While that portion of the proposal will be submitted to the EU Commission for review, Lauterbach’s plan would also allow Germans to grow their own cannabis for personal use. That change would reportedly not need the EU’s green light. Details of the homegrow rule have yet to be finalized, but reports say that consumers could be allowed to possess 20 to 30 cannabis under the proposal. What’s more, non-commercial growers could then organize and distribute marijuana among themselves through so-called cannabis clubs. Such clubs already exist in the Netherlands and Spain, and Malta is also planning to allow them.' MJBizDaily reported that 'The number of cannabis wholesalers in Germany is growing rapidly, but the amount of cannabis shipped from the Netherlands is steady – resulting in decreasing product available per wholesaler and, likely, an eventual consolidation in the market, according to local industry officials. A record 30 companies effectively imported flower from the Netherlands in April, and more than 50 companies already have an import authorization granted by the German government to do so. That means the number of importers will likely keep on increasing at least in the short term'. Besides Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Israel and Uruguay, Germany was also importing medical cannabis from Spain and Portugal. MJBizDaily reported that 'Flower imported from the Netherlands and Canada has been available in German pharmacies since before 2019, and flower from Portugal became available for the first time toward the end of 2019. While the first imports from Spain and Denmark were authorized by the BfArM in recent months, MJBizDaily is unaware of cannabis from those countries being already available for German patients'. MJBizDaily reported that 'Three companies were chosen to cultivate medical marijuana in Germany – the result of a long-delayed application process to provide product for one of the largest medical cannabis markets in the world. Canada’s Aphria received five of the 13 lots that were up for grabs, according to Hendrik Knopp, managing director of Aphria Deutschland. The result “is a very important footstep toward our twofold strategy of establishing a high-quality, in-country cultivation in Germany and importing additional flowers and oil from Canada and Denmark to provide the German market with complete cannabis medicine offering,” Knopp told Marijuana Business Daily'. Around the same time. MJBizDaily also reported that 'Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge and his German counterpart, Jens Spahn, agreed to more than double medical cannabis shipments from the current 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds) per year to 1,500 kilograms, according to the Der Spiegel newspaper.'
For some time, Germany was the world's largest importer of medical cannabis, until Israel overtook it. MJBizDaily reported that 'Israel had no large imports before 2020, but in only six months the country became the largest importer in the world, underscoring how quickly things change in this nascent international industry. Israeli producers have long eyed the export market, but the government has been slow to successfully facilitate exports, despite many attempts. Several government decisions supposedly approving exports have been widely celebrated over the past couple of years, but so far no meaningful exports from Israel have occurred.'
German research on the medical uses of cannabis is one of the reasons why medical cannabis has become so popular in the country. NORML reported in January 2024 that 'The use of medical cannabis products is associated with reduced levels of depression, according to data published in the journal Pharmacopsychiatry. German investigators assessed medical cannabis use in a cohort of 59 outpatients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as dronabinol, were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017; however, such products are typically only authorized when patients are unresponsive to traditional therapies.) Study participants used cannabis products for 18 weeks. “Mean severity of depression decreased from 6.9 points at entry to 3.8 points at week 18,” they reported. “A treatment response (>50 percent reduction of the initial score) was seen in 50.8 percent [of study subjects] at week 18.” The study’s authors concluded: “Medical cannabis was well-tolerated and [the] dropout rate was comparable to those in clinical trials of antidepressant medication. Patients reported a clinically significant reduction of depression severity. Further research on the effectiveness of medical cannabis for MDD seems warranted.” Again, in January 2024, NORML reported that 'Patients with chronic pain and other conditions report that cannabis is often more effective than conventional treatments, according to survey data published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine. German researchers surveyed patients’ experiences with cannabis products. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as , were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017; however, such products are typically only authorized when patients are unresponsive to traditional therapies.) Over 200 patients participated in the survey. Most respondents suffered from chronic pain and over two-thirds of the survey’s participants consumed cannabis flowers or plant-derived extracts. Consistent with numerous other studies, patients reported reductions in their daily pain following cannabis therapy. Patients also said that they were less likely to be either anxious or depressed while using cannabis. Participants reported “greater satisfaction” with cannabis and said that it was “more effective” than their prior therapies. Ninety-four percent of those surveyed reported holding more positive attitudes toward cannabis following treatment. “The results of this cross-sectional survey suggest that most surveyed outpatients treated with prescription cannabinoids in Germany subjectively experience health benefits and symptom reduction associated with these therapies,” the study’s authors concluded.'
Medical reimbursement of costs by insurance companies for medical cannabis has also been one of the primary drivers for the burgeoning medical cannabis industry in Germany. But this was not always the case as it took some time and a few nudges from the judiciary for medical insurance companies to align with cannabis. In September 2020, MJBizDaily reported that 'Applications for medical cannabis reimbursements with German statutory health insurers (GKV) have hit the 100,000 milestone this year – and 62% were approved, according to data obtained by Marijuana Business Daily. The figure accounts for individual applications submitted since the current program started in early 2017 through mid-2020. This is the first time comprehensive data about cannabis applications for reimbursement have become available in recent years.' MJBizDaily reported in October 2020 that 'The news is positive for patient access to medical cannabis and companies looking to capitalize on the burgeoning market. But the court case affirms that patients often need to fight their insurance companies for cannabis reimbursement – even though the German medical marijuana program that mandates such coverage has been active for years. Insurers may reject treatment only in “justified, exceptional cases” but as Marijuana Business Daily exclusively reported, almost 40% of the applications for reimbursement have been rejected by insurers since the start of the program in 2017.' Medical coverage for cannabis boosted the numbers. MJBizDaily reported in 2020 that 'May was the top month for medical coverage for cannabis since the current regulatory framework was implemented in early 2017. During that month, statutory health insurers covered 10.6 million euros of medical cannabis, surpassing the 10 million euro mark for the first time. The number fell to 9.5 million euros in June.' Again, in 2020 MJBizDaily reported that 'Insurance reimbursements for medical cannabis in Germany continue to reach fresh quarterly records, according to new data for the January-March period. In the first quarter of 2020, total reimbursement of cannabis and marijuana-related medicines reached 38.9 million euros ($43.7 million), the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) reported. That is 6% higher than the final quarter of 2019 and 58% more than the first quarter of 2019.' One of the problems of having a medical cannabis industry linked to medical insurance companies is that this will mimic the synthetic pharmaceutical industry and its link to medical insurance companies. As cannabis is very effective medicine capable of replacing whole classes of synthetic pharmaceutical medicines, the sale of cannabis as a pharmaceutical product will gain popularity and more people will enroll for medical insurance that reimburses cannabis use. This will result in increased revenue for medical insurance companies, in addition to the increased revenues of the pharmaceutical companies marketing cannabis as a pharmaceutical drug. All said and done, only the elite classes of society - who can access and afford a physician, medical insurance and cannabis as a pharmaceutical drug - will benefit from this. Much of society - who make up the poorer classes - will be outside the ambit of this scheme. But recreational cannabis poses as much a threat to the pharmaceutical company selling cannabis as a pharmaceutical drug as it does to the pharmaceutical company selling synthetic pharmaceutical drugs. Similarly, recreational cannabis poses as much a threat to medical insurance companies reimbursing cannabis as it does to medical insurance companies reimbursing synthetic pharmaceutical drugs. This is because with recreational cannabis, anyone will be able to grow cannabis anywhere and access it. There is no need to go to a physician, get a medical prescription, go to a pharmacy to buy the cannabis as pharmaceutical drug, and therefore no need to claim medical reimbursement for cannabis purchased. When we understand this whole process, we also understand why medical insurance companies also oppose recreational cannabis legalization as much as the medical industry, synthetic pharmaceutical industry and medical cannabis pharmaceutical industry.
As late as October 2021, the current German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach was opposed to cannabis legalization. It was only when he realized the extent of the opioid crisis, that he changed his mind regarding cannabis. DPA International reported that 'The aim was to block the trade in cannabis laced with heroin, Lauterbach said. "For years I have rejected legalizing cannabis, but I have now come to a different conclusion as a doctor," Lauterbach told the paper. "Cannabis sold illegally on the streets increasingly often has a new kind of heroin mixed into it that can be smoked. By this means, cannabis users are soon pushed into dependency on heroin," he said.' Lauterbach's concern about heroin, and opioids in general were not misplaced. The United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) reported in its World Drug Report 2020 that 'At the global level, Germany was the second largest consumer of opioid pain relievers, with an estimated 28,862 S-DDD per million population per day for medical use in 2017, followed by Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. In Germany, the number of pharmaceutical opioids overall and the number of people receiving opioid treatment have increased over the past few decades; in most instances, prescriptions were given for non-chronic cancer pain. A review of scientific literature from Germany published between 1985 and 2016 showed that out of the 12 studies reviewed, 6 studies reported a prevalence for patients with medical use of any opioid for long-term treatment of non-cancer chronic pain ranging from 0.54 to 5.7 per cent, while four studies reported a prevalence for patients with medical use of opioids at 0.057 to 1.39 per cent of the population.' What was even more concerning was the increase in use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl that was many more times deadlier and potent than heroin. The International Narcotics Control Bureau (INCB) reported that 'Germany was also the principal importing country for fentanyl in 2018 (434.7 kg, or 35.5 per cent of global imports); it was followed by Spain (125.1 kg, or 10.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (111.2 kg, or 9.1 per cent), France (73.9 kg, or 6.0 per cent), Italy (54.6 kg, or 4.5 per cent) and the Netherlands (53.2 kg, or 4.3 per cent).' Not only was Germany importing fentanyl in 2018, it was also the world's largest legal exporter of it. INCB reported that 'Germany was also the principal importing country for fentanyl in 2018 (434.7 kg, or 35.5 per cent of global imports); it was followed by Spain (125.1 kg, or 10.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (111.2 kg, or 9.1 per cent), France (73.9 kg, or 6.0 per cent), Italy (54.6 kg, or 4.5 per cent) and the Netherlands (53.2 kg, or 4.3 per cent).' It stated that 'The principal exporting countries [of fentanyl] were Germany (417.1 kg, or 44.6 per cent of global exports), Belgium (241.7 kg, or 25.9 per cent), the United States (90.7 kg, or 9.7 per cent) and the United Kingdom (64.3 kg, or 6.9 per cent).'
It is not just heroin and opioids that are a threat to German society, it is methamphetamine as well. Methamphetamine finds its way into Germany from Iran and Afghanistan. It also reaches Germany from as far away as East Asia, another major source of methamphetamine production in the world. UNODC reports that 'While methamphetamine trafficking flows from East and South-East Asia to countries outside the subregion remain modest, some smuggling to destinations around the world was reported, mainly smuggling from Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2018 or, when the period is extended to the past five years, mainly from China and Thailand. Destinations outside the subregion included countries in South Asia, the Near and Middle East (Saudi Arabia as well as Israel), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (the United States as well as Canada), Western Europe (notably Switzerland as well as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland), Eastern Europe (notably the Russian Federation) and Africa (notably South Africa) over the period 2014–2018'.
The dangers of the abuse of opioids and synthetic drugs would have been quite clear to Karl Lauterbach when he decided to work towards recreational use legalization. Germany has seen one of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths in the recent past. EMCDDA reported that 'As in previous years, the United Kingdom (34 %) and Germany (13 %) together account for around half of the EU total number of drug-related deaths in 2017. This relates partly to the size of the at-risk populations in these countries, but also to under-reporting in certain other countries. Following the United Kingdom and Germany, Turkey, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy and Norway report the largest numbers of deaths. There are also differences within countries, with some regions and cities much more affected than others.'
Germany's cannabis legalization initiatives have met opposition from the usual suspects, including law enforcement. Politico reported in October 2021 that 'In blunt remarks, police unions in Germany spoke out Tuesday against plans to legalize the possession and consumption of cannabis in the country. “There must finally be an end to trivializing the joint,” Oliver Malchow, the head of Germany’s police union (GdP), told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. With “legal but dangerous” alcohol already causing enough trouble, he argued, it made no sense to “open the door to another dangerous and often trivialized drug” like cannabis.' For law enforcement cannabis prohibition means that it does not have to focus on serious crimes like violent crimes and financial fraud usually involving the elite classes of society. Instead, law enforcement can focus on arresting and imprisoning persons from the lower classes and poorer sections of society for smoking a joint or trying to sell a few grams of the herb. Through this, law enforcement bloats its performance figures and secures significant budgets, using the 'war on cannabis' statistics to cushion its position. In an illegal cannabis environment, law enforcement works hand in hand with the drug peddlers in the black market to extort money from both consumers and sellers. So, it is no wonder that German police unions were strongly opposed to cannabis legalization efforts. The argument cited by them is interesting. They say that the legal and dangerous alcohol causes enough problems without adding cannabis as well into the mix. What these police officials seem to be ignorant of, or rather insensitive to, is the fact that alcohol kills three million people worldwide directly through its consumption. Alcohol, as a cause of death, in violent homicides, domestic violence, traffic fatalities, kidney failures, liver cirrhosis and cancer is something that most people hardly consider. Besides the number of people who die directly or indirectly from alcohol, there are possibly ten times as many who are addicted to it and cannot function properly without it. It is precisely to negate the harms of alcohol that cannabis must be legalized. What is conveniently forgotten by persons who take the line of argument that alcohol is bad enough without cannabis making things worse, is that cannabis was prohibited precisely to enable the greater sales of alcohol and related revenues to the government and businessmen. Cannabis was the intoxicant of the vast majority of society - the poor, the indigenous communities, the minorities, the working classes, etc., before it was prohibited. Because it could be grown everywhere and was freely available, it meant that these sections of society did not feel a desire to consume alcohol. To switch the cannabis user to alcohol, western societies prohibited cannabis. Cannabis had been used for thousands of years across the world by numerous communities without causing any damage to society. Neither did it cause insanity, nor did it incite violence or crime, unlike alcohol which had already devastated Europe before it was foisted on the cannabis-consuming communities of the world. The argument of the German police union is like saying we already have the disease, why do we need the cure? In fact, despite prohibition UNODC reports that around 6 to 7 % of the German population have been using cannabis since 2010. It states in its World Drug Report 2020 that 'In Western and Central Europe, the prevalence of past-year cannabis use has fluctuated over the past decade from 6 to 7 per cent among the population aged 15–64. However, some countries in the subregion, in particular countries with large populations such as Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (England and Wales), have reported an increase in cannabis use in recent drug use surveys.' Rather than cannabis legalization, it is cannabis prohibition that has led to vastly increased crime through the sale of synthetic drugs illegally, through violent crime incited by alcohol and synthetic drugs, to crime against vulnerable populations, etc. As Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in The Will to Power, 'Every power which prohibits something, which knows how to excite fear in the man to whom it is prohibited, gives rise to a bad conscience (i.e. a desire for something, coupled with a sense of the danger involved in gratifying it, and thus with the necessity of secrecy, clandestine means and caution). Every prohibition corrupts the character of those who do not submit to it voluntarily, but are compelled to do so.'
To get high is not a sin, nor is it a crime. The ruling classes say that the lower classes and castes getting high on cannabis is a crime and a sin, whereas the ruling classes getting high on cannabis is medicine. Regarding the importance of intoxication in human lives, as in the intoxication with cannabis - the 'getting high' - Nietzsche wrote in The Will to Power, 'The state of pleasure which we call intoxication is precisely a supreme sense of power...Perceptions of time and space are altered; tremendous distances are surveyed, and first become perceivable, as it were; the expansion of the vision to encompass greater masses and distances; the refinement of the faculty for the perception of the smallest and most transitory things; divination, the power of understanding at the slightest hint or suggestion, that is, an 'intelligent' sensibility...Strength as a sense of muscular control, as suppleness of, and delight in, movement, as dance, as ease and presto; strength as a desire to prove one's strength, as bravado, adventurousness, fearlessness: the strength of a heedless creature...All these elevated moments of life stimulate each other; the imagery and imagination of one suffices as a suggestion for the other...Such states which are perhaps better kept apart finally intertwine with each other.' The global war against cannabis has today distilled into the global war against delta9-tetrahydracannabinol (THC). THC is stated to be the main reason why cannabis is prohibited globally because THC 'makes you feel high', as per the rationale of those opposed to cannabis. Never mind that many other things in life such as alcohol, sex, sports and pharmaceutical medications also make you high. Never mind that getting high is not a sin, or wrong, or even biologically harmful. Never mind the harms caused by the synthetic human creations that have come in to replace cannabis. The maligning of THC has led to the creation of a completely arbitrary and unscientific limit of 0.3% THC which determines whether the cannabis plant is legal or illegal. Never mind the discrimination against the cannabis plant. The irony of it is that THC is the most medicinal compound in cannabis, and making you feel high is just one of its numerous medical benefits. Despite all the scientific evidence regarding the safety and benefits of THC, it remains the most targeted compound by anti-cannabis proponents, and cannabis legalization depends on dispelling the myths regarding THC. NORML reported in April 2024 that 'An international team of investigators surveyed more than 1,000 German patients authorized to use medical cannabis. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as dronabinol, were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017.) Survey respondents obtained lab-tested cannabis flower from regional pharmacies. Potency of the most frequently used chemovar was 22 percent. The overwhelming majority of patients surveyed reported medical cannabis to be effective at treating their symptoms. Patients reported no significant differences between chemovars, most of which were dominant in THC and low in CBD content. The most commonly reported side effects were dry mouth, increased appetite, and somnolence. “Patients self-reported very good efficacy and tolerability [to] medical cannabis,” the study’s authors concluded. Pharmaceutical-grade cannabis flower in Europe, Israel, and elsewhere typically contain THC levels of 20 percent or greater. The study’s findings push back against claims that cannabis strains higher in THC pose unique risks to health or that there is an absence of research supporting the efficacy of medical cannabis chemovars above 10 percent THC.' The extent to which society goes to prevent the presence of THC in anything is perverse. NORML reported in November 2020 that 'A team of German researchers reviewed the relevant literature on the subject. They concluded: “[T]he in vivo conversion of CBD to delta9-THC [is] not supported by the majority of the animal studies, where neither delta9-THC nor one of its metabolites 11-hydroxy-THC and 11-COOH-THCA were detected in blood or in brain tissues. Adding to this, neither delta9-THC nor any of its metabolites were detected after oral CBD administration in any of the human studies.” Authors concluded that instances of subjects testing positive on a urine drug test for THC following the consumption of commercially available CBD products are a result of the products being tainted with THC – not because CBD is transformed in vivo to THC.'
In October 2022, I had written, "A good way to get a country to legalize ganja would be for its immediate neighbour to legalize. There is usually such competition between neighbouring countries that the idea that one's immediate neighbour may stand to gain immensely from legalization could be a very good motivation for one's own country to legalize. Keeping up with the Joneses i mean the Mary Janes..Canada/USA, Australia/New Zealand, England/Germany, Israel/Iran, China/Japan, North Korea/South Korea...hey Pakistan, I think you guys should legalize because that would surely wake up India too...it's the perfect healthy competition and a win-win for all...gun competition is so uncool...not to mention fatal for the majority..." Germany did its bit. Now the pressure is on its neighbours in the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Spain to legalize for recreational use because the people on those countries know that the German government did the right thing by its people. The sheer inter-connectedness of Europe will ensure that before long all Germany's neighbours will legalize or run the risk of their governments getting overthrown by the people, or even worse, of all the people in Europe migrating to Germany. Euractiv reported in October 2020 that 'Expectations to address medicinal cannabis at the EU level were high before the start of Berlin’s presidency, as Germany is currently the most-advanced European market for hemp products for therapeutic purposes. After having passed a reform of the country’s drugs law in 2017, Germany paved the way for other EU countries to develop policies for granting patients easier access to medical marijuana. The Czech Republic, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are among the other member states which have established a specific access scheme for cannabis preparations for the treatment of a narrow range of medical conditions.' The EU remains under the sway of cannabis prohibition. It delayed voting by the UN in 2020 on the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) that cannabis be removed from the scheduled lists of controlled drugs. WHO stated that the most serious side effects of cannabis were laughter and talkativeness. MJBizDaily reported in mid-2020 that 'The European Union regretted that “the majority of countries wasn’t ready” to vote, urging them to be ready in December'. Finally, in December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted Schedule IV category of the 1961 Single Convention Treaty on Narcotic Drugs. It does however still remain in Schedule I, which is the least restrictive. The UN also removed cannabidiol from the scheduled lists. This shows not only that there is progress being made on cannabis policy but also that many nations are still stuck in the cannabis is harmful narrative, primarily influenced by the industries that benefit from cannabis prohibition. The EU legalizing cannabis for recreational use will mean that large European nations will put down in writing the reality that exists on the streets as Germany had the courage to do. That probably shows the strength of Germany as a nation and the reason why the rest of the big nations in Europe routinely gang up like a pack of dogs to control the German spirit. Many German parties, including Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic (CDU) party were opposed to cannabis. It took the Social Democratic (SPD) party under Olaf Schulz to get off the fence and support the political parties pushing for legalization that enabled recreational cannabis to become a reality in Germany in April 2024. DW reported around 2098 that 'Legalizing marijuana is one of the rare issues that unites the FDP, the Green party and the Left party. The opposition parties argue that keeping cannabis on the black market prevents patients from getting the help they need, and puts recreational consumers at risk of being exposed to questionable products that could be laced with harmful chemicals or harder drugs. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have remained strongly opposed to legal cannabis. Germany's other ruling party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), remains on the fence.'
Since legalization in April 2024, the SPD is facing a political crisis. Besides this, the far-right Alternate for Deutschland (AfD) has been making political headway. So far, in no place in the world has cannabis prohibition been reinforced once cannabis has been legalized recreationally in the last two centuries since prohibition began globally. So, it may be safe to say that German cannabis legalization is here to stay and should only get better with time. To go against the wisdom of wise men like Herman Hesse, Friedrich Nietzsche and Karl Lauterbach would indeed be foolish and most likely to result in another cycle of death, suffering and disaster for the German people...Writing about the problem of excessive nationalism that plays into the hands of the elites, Leo Tolstoy wrote in The Kingdom of God and Peace Essays, 'People of the ruling classes say that with such complete conviction that patriotism is a lofty sentiment, that common folk who have not experienced it acknowledge themselves to blame for not feeling it, and try to persuade themselves that they do feel it, or at least pretend to do so. That sentiment, in its most precise definition, is nothing but putting one's own kingdom or people before every other kingdom or people - a feeling fully expressed by the patriotic German song: Deutschland, Deutschland, uber alles, in which it is only necessary to substitute Russland, Frankreich, Italian, or any other kingdom in place of Deutschland, to obtain the clearest formula for the lofty feeling of patriotism. No doubt that feeling is very useful and desirable for governments and to the unity of the State, but one cannot help but see that it is not at all a lofty sentiment, but on the contrary a very stupid and immoral one: stupid because if each kingdom is to consider better than any other, it is evident that they will all be wrong; and immoral because it inevitably impels every man who feels it to seek advantages for his own State and people to the detriment of other States and peoples - an impulse directly contradictory to the fundamental moral law recognized by all, not to do to others what we do not wish done to us.' Or, to put it another way, as Nietzsche says in The Will to Power, 'It is only fair that the highest and most illustrious human joys, those in which existence celebrates its own transfiguration, should come only to the incomparable and the best constituted, although only after they and their ancestors have, unbeknownst to themselves, spent their lives in preparation for them. It is then that a superabundance of the most diverse forces and at the same time a swift power of 'free' decision and magisterial decree can amicably coexist in the same man, for then the intellect is just as much at home in the senses as the senses are at home in the intellect; and all that takes place in the one also awakens a refined and exceptionally felicitous play in the other. And conversely! Take a moment to consider this converse process in Hafez; even Goethe gives us an inkling of this process, albeit in an attenuated form. It is probable that in such perfectly well-constituted men, enjoyments of a wholly sensual nature are ultimately transformed into allegorical reveries of the highest intellectuality; they experience in themselves a kind of deification of the body and are at the greatest remove from that ascetic philosophy which is expressed in the proposition 'God is a spirit': which only goes to show that the ascetic is the 'ill-constituted man', the man who merely takes something intrinsic to him and especially that in him which judges and condemns and calls it good - calls it 'God'. By contrast, the Greeks knew of a whole vast spectrum of happiness, from that height of joy where man thoroughly feels himself to be a deified form and self-justification of nature, all the way down to the joy of robust peasants and robust half-human animals. In the face of this, they quivered with the gratitude of the initiate and gave it, with much circumspection and pious reticence, the divine name of Dionysus. What then do the modern men, the children of a frail, often ailing and unlikely mother, know of the extent of the Greeks' happiness? What could they know about it! What could possibly entitle the slaves of 'modern ideas' to participate in Dionysian revels!'
There is a need to lift the current caps on local cannabis production in Germany, such as individual limits of three plants for home growing and only cannabis clubs being able to produce large scales of cannabis. To meet the needs of the German people, cannabis must be treated like any other agricultural crop and farmers must be encouraged to grow it as an additional cash crop. Even with all this, Germany will probably still need to import cannabis to meet its local needs. For this, Germany should push for cannabis legalization in the EU and the UN so that traditional cannabis cultivating nations in Asia, Africa and South America can produce cannabis of high quality at affordable prices for export to Germany thus establishing a sustainable trade that heals both nations involved. Since 2019, the German government has been encouraging cannabis cultivation locally but, to me, all this is too regulated to produce the desired effect of national self-sufficiency in cannabis. Bloomberg reported in 2019 that 'Germany’s leap into homegrown medical marijuana is nothing if not orderly. The government is moving to assure a local supply of the drug by giving out grower contracts for 10,400 kilograms (22,928 pounds) of pot over the next four years. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices’s so-called Cannabis Agency will choose between 79 bidders from growers by the end of June, the agency said on Monday. Germany has relied on imports from the Netherlands and Canada since it legalized medical marijuana in March 2017. Now it’s aiming for the first local harvest by the end of next year. Producers and pharmacies will still be allowed to buy from foreign growers, but the tender will ensure a high-quality native supply is also available, said Maik Pommer, a spokesman for the drugs agency.' Cannabis legalization for recreational use may have killed the medical cannabis market locally but it boosted the medical cannabis exports of Canada, spawning multinational cannabis companies like Aurora, Canopy and Tilray. Marijuana reported that 'Those who feared legalization in Canada could stop the flow of medical cannabis imported to Germany can breathe a sigh of relief. Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) confirmed it will continue to license the import of medical cannabis from Canada.' In the case of Germany, to reach net exporter status may not be possible in the long term. This will be the case even with Canada once the serious cannabis cultivating nations get into the game. But then what everybody needs is great ganja and charas easily accessible and at affordable prices. It does not matter who grows it or where, so let the people best suited for growing it do so.
In Germany, we see that the greatest emphasis has been on medical cannabis, and now recreational cannabis. These two aspects strengthen public health. The bulk of the cannabis appears to be consumed in flower form, i.e. as ganja, with extracts that make up charas, tinctures, oils, etc. making up only about 4% of the market though this is expected to grow. MJBizDaily reported that 'The variety of full-spectrum products is much smaller than that of flower, with at least 30 cultivars being consistently available for pharmacists to order throughout the last month. However, MJBizDaily‘s Medical Cannabis in Europe report estimated that sales of full-spectrum extracts represented just 4% of total sales covered by statutory health insurance in Germany in 2019, although that percentage is growing. Recent massive imports of flower into Europe for further processing indicate that more extracts could soon become available.' MJBizDaily also reported in 2019 that 'Germany was the main destination for Canada’s dried cannabis. Just over 94% of the 3,740.232 kilograms of dried product exported from Canada last year went to the European Union country. Germany imported roughly 6,714 kilograms of medical cannabis flower in 2019 from all destinations – both for pharmacy dispensing and redistribution in the EU – meaning Canada provided 52% of Germany’s imported flower. Most of the rest came from the Netherlands.'
Along with the progress in medical cannabis since 2017, Germany also saw the arrival of cannabis-based beverages, Hemp Industry Daily reported in April 2021 that 'Rockstar Energy, a drink brand owned by PepsiCo, has launched a line of hemp-infused drinks in Germany. Just-Drinks reports that Rockstar Energy + Hemp was released Saturday in three flavors. The drinks contain hempseed extract, caffeine and taurine. PepsiCo tells the publication that the drinks have an “intense” hemp flavor. The drinks will be sold only in Germany.' High Times reported around the same time regarding a decision by the German courts to allow cannabis-based beverages, stating, 'The reality is that these kinds of lawsuits will be common all over Europe until there is coordinated policy setting—and on several fronts. This is all coming and has even moved forward during the Pandemic—including the landmark decision at the EU level last fall.' Germany's steps towards legalization also saw the non-THC cannabis compounds taking off, especially cannabidiol (CBD) in the nutrition, sports medicine and wellness sectors. Hemp Industry Daily reported that 'CannaCare Health GmbH said its CANOBO products hit the shelves at 2,200 branches of ROSSMANN drugstore across Germany in February 2020. The products include two full-spectrum CBD nutritional supplements at concentrations of 2.75% and 5% and a topical sport recovery gel.'
What Germany seems to be neglecting now is the industrial applications of cannabis. One would expect that a country known for its technical excellence would not only be a world leader in sustainable hemp-based technology but would also be a most vocal supporter for the plant's legalization in all its forms worldwide. Cannabis for industrial purposes can set a nation on the path to sustainable development and economics. It can negate, counter and offers a way out of the global crisis caused by the over-dependence on the fossil fuel industry and its allied industries: petrochemical-based synthetic pharmaceuticals, petrochemical-based chemical fertilizers and pesticides, petrochemical-based non-biodegradable plastics, fossil-fuel-based construction, petrochemical-based fabrics and textiles, petrochemical-based automobile parts, and so on. It is not just the harms of the fossil fuel industry that industrial cannabis will counter, it will also make various other industries environmentally sustainable such as: agriculture to grow hemp in place of cotton, rice and wheat; animal feed; wellness; tourism; food; beverages; cosmetics; paper; etc. While countries like France, the US and China have been cultivating industrial hemp on a war-footing in the last decade, Germany still lags behind in this area. To make German progress comprehensive, when it comes to cannabis, Germany must completely legalize cannabis in all its forms with no restrictions on amount of THC and quantities of cannabis cultivated. This will translate into jobs for the people, revenue for the state, environmental protection and economic sustainability. With just 24 out of 50 US states having legalized cannabis so far, the US already has a legal cannabis market with a projected $100 billion economic impact in 2025. There is no reason why, Germany, with cannabis legalized in all its forms - recreational, medical and industrial - cannot have a cannabis market of about $200 billion within the next few years. And we are talking about sustainable economics here, not economics that destroys the planet and its inhabitants.
The need of the hour worldwide is for immediate access to cannabis for all people through recreational use legalization, especially home growing, for personal consumption given the wide range of medical conditions that affect the world's population including the elderly who form a large part of Germany's medical cannabis patient count. The menace of methamphetamine, opioids, synthetic cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, novel psychotropic substances and abuse of prescription medication plagues the German population as much as it does any other country in the world, especially the younger generations, who for lack of access to a safe recreational drug are falling prey to these dangerous recreational alternatives now made easily available to them. The elderly population who are forced to use cocktails of synthetic pharmaceutical prescription medication with debilitating side effects are no better off. The fact that a significant fraction of the elderly German population prefers cannabis over synthetic prescription medication to treat its age-related troubles is evidence of the medical effectiveness of cannabis over pharmaceutical medicine. In fact, in the US which has medical or recreational cannabis legalized in 46 states, the elderly are the fastest growing demographic of cannabis consumers.
Germany has travelled a long way to reach where it has today. It has been victim to insane leaders who fooled the people, promising greater glory. It has watched its neighbours plunder and loot nations across the world to grow rich, powerful and prosperous. Germany, with its ancient roots that saw the spawning of its descendants in Britain and Scandinavia, and high intellectual and cultural refinement, was seduced by the lust for money and power and embarked on two disastrous global wars with the other thieving nations for a share of the booty. It was beaten and left to limp back to life. Commenting on the state of German society, Herman Hesse wrote in If The War Goes On, in 1919, 'You young Germans have always prided yourselves on the very virtues you did not possess, and blamed your enemies most for the vices they had learned from you. You have always spoken of 'German' virtues: you held that loyalty and the kindred virtues had as good as been invented by your Kaiser or your people. But you yourselves were not loyal; you were untrue to yourselves, and that alone is what won you the hatred of the world. You say: no, it was our money, it was our success! And perhaps your enemies thought so too, perhaps they concurred in your shopkeeper's logic. But the true causes are always a little deeper than people think, and especially than the snap judgements of unimaginative businessmen. Perhaps your enemies did begrudge you your money, perhaps it aroused their envy! But there are also kinds of success which arouse no envy, which the world greets with rejoicing. Why did you never have such success, why always the other kind? Because you were untrue to yourselves. You played a role that was not yours. With the help of your Kaiser and of Richard Wagner, you made the 'German virtues' into an opera which no one in the world took seriously but yourselves. And behind all that operatic flimflam you let your dark, slavish, megalomaniacal instincts run rampant. You always had the name of God on your lips and your hand on your purse. You spoke of order, virtue, organization, and meant moneymaking. And you gave yourselves away by always attributing the same sort of skulduggery to the enemy. Hear, you said, hear how they talk of virtue and justice, and see what they do in reality. You winked at one another when an Englishman or American made fine speeches, because you knew what is behind such fine speeches. But how did you know if not by your own hearts?' In exhorting the German people for their naivete in reaching their defeated position, Hesse wrote 'You Germans more than any other people are accustomed to obedience. Your people has obeyed so easily, so very willingly and gladly, reluctant to take the slightest step that did not afford the satisfaction of carrying out an order, of complying with a regulation. Signposts telling you what to do, and above all what not to do, covered your country like a forest. How obedient such a people will be if, after so long a pause, so long a period of weary waiting, it should once again hear the voices of men! If instead of decrees and regulations it should once again hear a tone if inner strength and conviction? If once again it should see actions, not most condescendingly commanded and most humbly carried out, but springing bright and full-blown from their father's head like the Greek goddess?' Voices of sanity, such as that of Carl Jung failed to reach most people in the tightly controlled German society of the Nazis. Hesse writes, 'All the communications of these truly good Germans have one thing in common: a sharp reaction to the tone of the moralizing sermons that are now, rather belatedly, being addressed by the democratic peoples to the Germans. In effectively abridged form, some of these articles and pamphlets, among them C. G. Jung's essay 'Collective Guilt'. are being distributed in Germany by the occupying powers. The only section of the German people that is willing to read such statements today has reacted with a terrifying touchiness. Undoubtedly the sermons are often perfectly right; unfortunately they do not reach the German people but only the best and noblest section of it, whose conscience has long been only too wide awake.' In his Letter to Germany, written in 1946, just after the second world war, Hesse wrote, 'Old age brings sclerosis, and sometimes my blood refuses to irrigate my brain properly. But, after all, these evils have their good side: one doesn't react to things so violently, one disregards a good deal, one becomes immune to certain blows and pinpricks, and a part of the being that was once I has already gone where the whole of it will soon be. Among the good things which I am still able to enjoy, which still give me pleasure and compensate for the dark side, are the rare but undeniable indications that an authentic spiritual Germany lives on. I neither seek nor find them in the bustlings of its present culture-manufacturers and fair-weather democrats but in such gratifying manifestations of determination, alertness, and courage, of good will and of confidence shorn of illusions, as your letter. I thank you for it, preserve the seed, keep faith with the light and the spirit. There are very few of you, but you may be the salt of the earth.' I dare say that, when it comes to cannabis, Hesse would have been proud of how the German people have persisted to correct the wrongs inflicted them, mostly by the nations that warred against them. The words of Nietzsche, in The Will to Power, written about the great man applies as much to Germany as a nation that has gone against the current by legalized recreational cannabis. Nietzsche wrote, 'A great man, a man whom nature has devised and constructed like a building in the grand style, what is he? First, all of his actions follow with the consistency of a long-term plan that, owing to its very length, is difficult to comprehend - thus everything that he does is misleading; in broad areas of his life he has the ability to bend things to his will, to despise and discard all that is petty, even when such things are among the most beautiful, the most 'divine' things in the world. Second, he is more cold and indifferent, more brazen and fearless in the face of 'opinion'; he lacks the virtues associated with those who have become respectable, being altogether devoid of the 'virtues of the gregarious'. When he cannot lead, he goes alone; and on occasion he growls at some of what he encounters along the way. Third, he seeks not 'sympathy', but servants, instruments; in his dealings with men, he is always eager to make something out of them. He knows that what he is, is incommunicable: he finds it distasteful to be 'intimate'; and he is usually not where he is reputed to be. When he is not in communion with himself, he wears a mask...[He is] his own jurisdiction, answering to no authority but his own.'
With cannabis legalization, Germany has taken a firm step in the right direction. With this, there is hope that the world will be reborn and rejuvenate once again. As Nietzsche wrote in The Will to Power, 'We have entered a period where the old masquerade, in which the emotions were festooned with moral significance, now excites disgust; we would sooner have naked nature, where the amounts of power are simply admitted to the decisive (in determining rank), and where, as a consequence of grand passion, the grand style returns.'
Related articles
Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.
Constantin von der Groeben, managing director of the German company Demecan, told MJBizDaily that, as of April 1, companies can apply for a cultivation license.
“We foresee a huge growth potential for our own cultivation,” he said, indicating Demecan can apply to increase cultivation beyond the previous maximum production quota.
However, Germany is still expected to need significant cannabis imports in the near- to midterm.
“It depends strongly on the ramp-up of domestic cultivation,” Von der Groeben said of how long Germany would rely on imports.
The Demecan executive cited Article 21 of the United Nations' Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which he said implies that if and when the demand for cannabis can be filled domestically, no imports would be required or allowed.
“But this is probably still a few years out,” he said.
An international team of investigators surveyed more than 1,000 German patients authorized to use medical cannabis. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as dronabinol, were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017.) Survey respondents obtained lab-tested cannabis flower from regional pharmacies. Potency of the most frequently used chemovar was 22 percent.
The overwhelming majority of patients surveyed reported medical cannabis to be effective at treating their symptoms. Patients reported no significant differences between chemovars, most of which were dominant in THC and low in CBD content. The most commonly reported side effects were dry mouth, increased appetite, and somnolence.
“Patients self-reported very good efficacy and tolerability [to] medical cannabis,” the study’s authors concluded.
Pharmaceutical-grade cannabis flower in Europe, Israel, and elsewhere typically contain THC levels of 20 percent or greater.
The study’s findings push back against claims that cannabis strains higher in THC pose unique risks to health or that there is an absence of research supporting the efficacy of medical cannabis chemovars above 10 percent THC.
Germany’s cannabis law took effect Monday, making it the second Group of Seven country to legalize and regulate adult-use cannabis nationally.
Canada became the first G7 nation to legalize in 2018.
Germany’s recently approved law legalizes cannabis possession for adults of up to 25 grams (0.88 ounces). It also:
- Allows for the cultivation of up to three plants per household.
- Removes cannabis from the narcotics list.
- Sets the stage for “cannabis clubs” to open later this year.
While the law was heralded as legalization and marks a significant milestone by ending prohibition, it stops short of laying a legal foundation for the commercial provision of recreational cannabis to consumers.
Unlike American-style legalization and regulation of marijuana, which generally leans heavily into commerce and relies on capitalist systems, Germany chose a different path – for now.
Germany’s landmark recreational cannabis law will go into effect on April 1 after clearing the final regulatory hurdle on Friday.
The Bundesrat, the upper house of the German Parliament, failed to reach a majority to convene the Mediation Committee, clearing the last potential delay to approval, ABC News reported.
The law, approved a month ago in the Bundestag by a 407-226 vote, generally decriminalizes cannabis, allows for home grows and lays the legal framework for so-called “cultivation social clubs” – nonprofit organizations where members can acquire marijuana for recreational use.
However, the law stops short of establishing a regulated retail and distribution system for adult-use products, akin to more than 20 American states.
Germany’s parliament has officially approved a bill to legalize marijuana nationwide.
Two days after the cannabis legislation was considered by eight committees of the Bundestag, the full body voted 407-226 on final passage on Friday.
The bill—which will make possession and home cultivation legal and authorize social clubs that can distribute marijuana to members—now heads to the Bundesrat, a separate legislative chamber that represents German states, though its members cannot stop the reform from being enacted.
While supporters have said legalization would take effect in April if it’s enacted, there are new questions about that timeline. The Bundesrat may move to refer the legislation to a mediation committee to address criminal justice-related implications of the law, which could mean several months of additional discussion.
Berlin: Germany on Friday joined a small group of countries and jurisdictions that have legalised cannabis when the Bundestag passed a law allowing individuals and voluntary associations to grow and hold limited quantities of the drug.
The law passed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz's ruling three-party coalition legalises cultivating up to three plants for private consumption and owning up to 25 grams of cannabis. Larger-scale, but still non-commercial, cannabis production will be allowed for members of so-called cannabis clubs with no more than 500 members, all of whom must be adults. Only club members can consume their product.
"We have two goals: to crack down on the black market and the improved protection of children and young people," Health Minister Karl Lauterbach said at the start of a rowdy debate where the opposition accused him of promoting drug use.
The use of medical cannabis products is associated with reduced levels of depression, according to data published in the journal Pharmacopsychiatry.
German investigators assessed medical cannabis use in a cohort of 59 outpatients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD). (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as dronabinol, were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017; however, such products are typically only authorized when patients are unresponsive to traditional therapies.) Study participants used cannabis products for 18 weeks.
“Mean severity of depression decreased from 6.9 points at entry to 3.8 points at week 18,” they reported. “A treatment response (>50 percent reduction of the initial score) was seen in 50.8 percent [of study subjects] at week 18.”
The study’s authors concluded: “Medical cannabis was well-tolerated and [the] dropout rate was comparable to those in clinical trials of antidepressant medication. Patients reported a clinically significant reduction of depression severity. Further research on the effectiveness of medical cannabis for MDD seems warranted.”
Patients with chronic pain and other conditions report that cannabis is often more effective than conventional treatments, according to survey data published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
German researchers surveyed patients’ experiences with cannabis products. (Plant cannabis and cannabinoid treatments, such as , were legalized by prescription use in Germany in 2017; however, such products are typically only authorized when patients are unresponsive to traditional therapies.) Over 200 patients participated in the survey. Most respondents suffered from chronic pain and over two-thirds of the survey’s participants consumed cannabis flowers or plant-derived extracts.
Consistent with numerous other studies, patients reported reductions in their daily pain following cannabis therapy. Patients also said that they were less likely to be either anxious or depressed while using cannabis. Participants reported “greater satisfaction” with cannabis and said that it was “more effective” than their prior therapies. Ninety-four percent of those surveyed reported holding more positive attitudes toward cannabis following treatment.
“The results of this cross-sectional survey suggest that most surveyed outpatients treated with prescription cannabinoids in Germany subjectively experience health benefits and symptom reduction associated with these therapies,” the study’s authors concluded.
Government officials from multiple countries, including the U.S., are meeting in Germany to discuss international marijuana policy issues as the host nation works to enact legalization.
Representatives of about 10 counties are convening for the second International Forum for Sustainable Cannabis Regulation (IFSCR) on Tuesday, with the main focus being on establishing a global framework for marijuana policy, while also giving participants an opportunity to speak about their own domestic developments.
In addition to Germany and the U.S., the forum will also feature government representatives from Canada, Colombia, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Czech Republic.
Of those nations, Canada and Malta hav already enacted cannabis legalization. Lawmakers in Mexico have been working to end prohibition for the past few years after the country’s Supreme Court deemed the policy unconstitutional. And a bill to legalize cannabis is also advancing in Colombia.
Germany’s federal cabinet has approved a draft marijuana legalization bill, sending the first part of the government’s cannabis reform plan to the country’s legislature for consideration.
Members of the cabinet voted in favor of advancing the legislation, spearheaded by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, after discussing the measure at a meeting on Wednesday.
The proposal, which was unveiled last month , would allow adults to legally possess cannabis and cultivate a maximum of three plants for personal use. It would also create social clubs that could distribute marijuana to members, with purchase limits for people over the age of 21 of 25 grams of cannabis per day—up to a total of 50 grams per month—and a lower 30 grams per month limit for those between the ages of 18 and 21.
Those facilities could not be located within 200 meters of a school, and each given city or district could only have one club for every 6,000 residents, and there would be a limit of 500 members per club. A social club permit would be valid for up to seven years, with the possibility of receiving an extension after five years. Membership to the clubs would have to last at least two months under the draft bill.
'The company, located in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Region, will provide logistics, wholesale and distribution services to the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).
To do that, Cansativa will deliver to German pharmacies the cannabis flower grown by the German subsidiaries of Canadian-based Aurora Cannabis and Aphria, as well as Germany-headquartered Demecan.'
'Applications for medical cannabis reimbursements with German statutory health insurers (GKV) have hit the 100,000 milestone this year – and 62% were approved, according to data obtained by Marijuana Business Daily.
The figure accounts for individual applications submitted since the current program started in early 2017 through mid-2020.
This is the first time comprehensive data about cannabis applications for reimbursement have become available in recent years.'
'Expectations to address medicinal cannabis at the EU level were high before the start of Berlin’s presidency, as Germany is currently the most-advanced European market for hemp products for therapeutic purposes.
After having passed a reform of the country’s drugs law in 2017, Germany paved the way for other EU countries to develop policies for granting patients easier access to medical marijuana.
The Czech Republic, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are among the other member states which have established a specific access scheme for cannabis preparations for the treatment of a narrow range of medical conditions.'
'Medical cannabis flower grown in Uruguay recently became available in the German market for the first time.
The news sheds light on the final destination of large exports quietly shipped from Uruguay to Portugal at the end of 2019 and earlier this year, as first reported by Marijuana Business Daily. The shipments’ final destinations were unknown at the time.
But the latest development shows the product ultimately was headed to Germany.'
'Canada is not the only supplier for the import-dependent German market. Others include:
- The Netherlands, which remains a leading flower supplier of the German market.
- Uruguay, whose flower was shipped to Germany via Portugal recently under the Tilray brand.
- Tilray flower was cultivated in Portugal.
- Spanish licensed producer Linneo, which recently became a supplier of flower for the German, Israeli and United Kingdom markets. In all cases, the products are sold under other brands.
Aphria is one of the only three in-country growers of medical cannabis in Germany.'
'The news is positive for patient access to medical cannabis and companies looking to capitalize on the burgeoning market.
But the court case affirms that patients often need to fight their insurance companies for cannabis reimbursement – even though the German medical marijuana program that mandates such coverage has been active for years.
Insurers may reject treatment only in “justified, exceptional cases” but as Marijuana Business Daily exclusively reported, almost 40% of the applications for reimbursement have been rejected by insurers since the start of the program in 2017.'
'The German federal parliament rejected a bill to legalize a “strictly controlled” adult-use cannabis market, dealing a major setback to recreational marijuana reform efforts in that country.
The rejection came despite the fact that a majority of the members of the Bundestang belong to a political party that favors some type of reform.'
'A team of German researchers reviewed the relevant literature on the subject. They concluded:
“[T]he in vivo conversion of CBD to delta9-THC [is] not supported by the majority of the animal studies, where neither delta9-THC nor one of its metabolites 11-hydroxy-THC and 11-COOH-THCA were detected in blood or in brain tissues. Adding to this, neither delta9-THC nor any of its metabolites were detected after oral CBD administration in any of the human studies.”
Authors concluded that instances of subjects testing positive on a urine drug test for THC following the consumption of commercially available CBD products are a result of the products being tainted with THC – not because CBD is transformed in vivo to THC.'
'“We started to deliver to the first pharmacies who ordered the product from us,” Yvonne Moeller, the company’s director of communications for Europe, told Marijuana Business Daily via email.
She said more than 150 pharmacies have the products, which were made at Aurora Nordic in Denmark.
“Last week, the (first) medical cannabis products ‘Made in Denmark’ reached German pharmacies,” Aurora Deutschland GmbH announced on LinkedIn.
The move is part of Aurora’s plan to meet demand in the EU using its European-based production.'
'Rockstar Energy, a drink brand owned by PepsiCo, has launched a line of hemp-infused drinks in Germany.
Just-Drinks reports that Rockstar Energy + Hemp was released Saturday in three flavors. The drinks contain hempseed extract, caffeine and taurine.
PepsiCo tells the publication that the drinks have an “intense” hemp flavor. The drinks will be sold only in Germany.'
'The reality is that these kinds of lawsuits will be common all over Europe until there is coordinated policy setting—and on several fronts. This is all coming and has even moved forward during the Pandemic—including the landmark decision at the EU level last fall.'
'MG Health chief executive Andre Bothma said the firm had received certification to export cannabis flower as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) under the EU's Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) protocol.
"What this means is that we have authorisation to export our products as an API into Germany and the wider European market. We expect to start in June," he said on the sidelines of a media event with his Munich-based import partner, Drapalin Pharmaceuticals.'
'Since Germany’s Cannabis as Medicines Act was enacted in March 2017, the country has relied exclusively on imports to meet the growing medical demand currently estimated at well over 100,000 patients. Tilray’s ongoing domestic harvest and production will play an indispensable role in ensuring that patient needs are met with products of the highest quality medical cannabis while at the same time reducing dependence on imported supply. '
'Although the German medical cannabis market is at an early stage, it has shown great potential, and its future seems promising. However, it will take time to see how domestic production will affect imports, and how medical cannabis development in Germany will influence the growth of other European markets.'
'In the meantime, Germany’s medical market continues to grow.
Faes pegs the medical market there at about 300 million euros ($354 million), making it the second-biggest federally regulated medical market in the world, behind Canada.
Germany is on pace to become the biggest fully legal medical market in the world by next year.'
'In blunt remarks, police unions in Germany spoke out Tuesday against plans to legalize the possession and consumption of cannabis in the country.
“There must finally be an end to trivializing the joint,” Oliver Malchow, the head of Germany’s police union (GdP), told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. With “legal but dangerous” alcohol already causing enough trouble, he argued, it made no sense to “open the door to another dangerous and often trivialized drug” like cannabis.'
'The aim was to block the trade in cannabis laced with heroin, Lauterbach said.
"For years I have rejected legalizing cannabis, but I have now come to a different conclusion as a doctor," Lauterbach told the paper.
"Cannabis sold illegally on the streets increasingly often has a new kind of heroin mixed into it that can be smoked. By this means, cannabis users are soon pushed into dependency on heroin," he said.'
'Germany imported a record amount of marijuana for medical and scientific use in 2022, according to fresh data from the country’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).
While the top-line number suggests the import business is booming, a deeper look shows that 2022 posted the slowest annual growth since the BfArM started reporting cannabis import data in 2018.
Moreover, a good chunk of those imports appears to have never reached patients, possibly because of poor quality or product being reexported to another country, experts suggest.
In 2022, nearly 25,000 kilograms (27.6 tons) of cannabis were imported into Germany for medical or scientific purposes, an increase of 19% over the 20,769 kilograms imported in 2021.'
'The new plan is a two-part model—first reported by Zeit—which appears to be an attempt by German officials to legalize cannabis as broadly as possible without running afoul of EU rules.
First, the policy change would reportedly allow limited marijuana sales in certain areas—akin to a regional pilot program—for a period of four years. That would allow officials to see the impact of reform both in big cities and more rural locations. If the program is deemed a success, it could be extended to other parts of the country.
While that portion of the proposal will be submitted to the EU Commission for review, Lauterbach’s plan would also allow Germans to grow their own cannabis for personal use. That change would reportedly not need the EU’s green light.
Details of the homegrow rule have yet to be finalized, but reports say that consumers could be allowed to possess 20 to 30 cannabis under the proposal. What’s more, non-commercial growers could then organize and distribute marijuana among themselves through so-called cannabis clubs. Such clubs already exist in the Netherlands and Spain, and Malta is also planning to allow them.'
'Contracts between Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices and the three companies it tentatively selected to cultivate and distribute its medical cannabis could be formalized as early as Wednesday after a mandatory 10-day appeals process expires.
Ontario, Canada-based Wayland Group – through its joint venture with Berlin-based Demecan – and the German subsidiaries of Canadian companies Aphria and Aurora Cannabis were chosen earlier this month to provide product for what is one of the largest medical cannabis markets in the world. Each was evaluated based on a points system focused on infrastructure, quality standards, security plans and price.'
'May was the top month for medical coverage for cannabis since the current regulatory framework was implemented in early 2017.
During that month, statutory health insurers covered 10.6 million euros of medical cannabis, surpassing the 10 million euro mark for the first time. The number fell to 9.5 million euros in June.'
'Israel had no large imports before 2020, but in only six months the country became the largest importer in the world, underscoring how quickly things change in this nascent international industry.
Israeli producers have long eyed the export market, but the government has been slow to successfully facilitate exports, despite many attempts.
Several government decisions supposedly approving exports have been widely celebrated over the past couple of years, but so far no meaningful exports from Israel have occurred.'
'At the global level, Germany was the second largest consumer of opioid pain relievers, with an estimated 28,862 S-DDD per million population per day for medical use in 2017, followed by Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. In Germany, the number of pharmaceutical opioids overall and the number of people receiving opioid treatment have increased over the past few decades; in most instances, prescriptions were given for non-chronic cancer pain. A review of scientific literature from Germany published between 1985 and 2016 showed that out of the 12 studies reviewed, 6 studies reported a prevalence for patients with medical use of any opioid for long-term treatment of non-cancer chronic pain ranging from 0.54 to 5.7 per cent, while four studies reported a prevalence for patients with medical use of opioids at 0.057 to 1.39 per cent of the population' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_BOOKLET_4.pdf
'CannaCare Health GmbH said its CANOBO products hit the shelves at 2,200 branches of ROSSMANN drugstore across Germany in February 2020.
The products include two full-spectrum CBD nutritional supplements at concentrations of 2.75% and 5% and a topical sport recovery gel.'
'Germany was also the principal importing country for fentanyl in 2018 (434.7 kg, or 35.5 per cent of global imports); it was followed by Spain (125.1 kg, or 10.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (111.2 kg, or 9.1 per cent), France (73.9 kg, or 6.0 per cent), Italy (54.6 kg, or 4.5 per cent) and the Netherlands (53.2 kg, or 4.3 per cent).'
'The principal exporting countries [of fentanyl] were Germany (417.1 kg, or 44.6 per cent of global exports), Belgium (241.7 kg, or 25.9 per cent), the United States (90.7 kg, or 9.7 per cent) and the United Kingdom (64.3 kg, or 6.9 per cent).
'The number of cannabis wholesalers in Germany is growing rapidly, but the amount of cannabis shipped from the Netherlands is steady – resulting in decreasing product available per wholesaler and, likely, an eventual consolidation in the market, according to local industry officials.
A record 30 companies effectively imported flower from the Netherlands in April, and more than 50 companies already have an import authorization granted by the German government to do so. That means the number of importers will likely keep on increasing at least in the short term'
'Flower imported from the Netherlands and Canada has been available in German pharmacies since before 2019, and flower from Portugal became available for the first time toward the end of 2019.
While the first imports from Spain and Denmark were authorized by the BfArM in recent months, MJBizDaily is unaware of cannabis from those countries being already available for German patients'
'The variety of full-spectrum products is much smaller than that of flower, with at least 30 cultivars being consistently available for pharmacists to order throughout the last month.
However, MJBizDaily‘s Medical Cannabis in Europe report estimated that sales of full-spectrum extracts represented just 4% of total sales covered by statutory health insurance in Germany in 2019, although that percentage is growing.
Recent massive imports of flower into Europe for further processing indicate that more extracts could soon become available
'Germany was the main destination for Canada’s dried cannabis.
Just over 94% of the 3,740.232 kilograms of dried product exported from Canada last year went to the European Union country.
Germany imported roughly 6,714 kilograms of medical cannabis flower in 2019 from all destinations – both for pharmacy dispensing and redistribution in the EU – meaning Canada provided 52% of Germany’s imported flower. Most of the rest came from the Netherlands.'
Medical insurance companies..another opponent of recreational cannabis legalization...
'Insurance reimbursements for medical cannabis in Germany continue to reach fresh quarterly records, according to new data for the January-March period.
In the first quarter of 2020, total reimbursement of cannabis and marijuana-related medicines reached 38.9 million euros ($43.7 million), the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband) reported.
That is 6% higher than the final quarter of 2019 and 58% more than the first quarter of 2019.'
https://mjbizdaily.com/insurance-covered-reimbursements-for-medical-cannabis-sets-record-in-germany/
'In Western and Central Europe, the prevalence of past-year cannabis use has fluctuated over the past decade from 6 to 7 per cent among the population aged 15–64. However, some countries in the subregion, in particular countries with large populations such as Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (England and Wales), have reported an increase in cannabis use in recent drug use surveys.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_2.pdf
'While methamphetamine trafficking flows from East and South-East Asia to countries outside the subregion remain modest, some smuggling to destinations around the world was reported, mainly smuggling from Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2018 or, when the period is extended to the past five years, mainly from China and Thailand. Destinations outside the subregion included countries in South Asia, the Near and Middle East (Saudi Arabia as well as Israel), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), North America (the United States as well as Canada), Western Europe (notably Switzerland as well as Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Iceland), Eastern Europe (notably the Russian Federation) and Africa (notably South Africa) over the period 2014–2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020, https://wdr.unodc.org/wdr2020/field/WDR20_Booklet_3.pdf
'The European Union regretted that “the majority of countries wasn’t ready” to vote, urging them to be ready in December'
'As in previous years, the United Kingdom (34 %) and Germany (13 %) together account for around half of the EU total number of drug-related deaths in 2017. This relates partly to the size of the at-risk populations in these countries, but also to under-reporting in certain other countries. Following the United Kingdom and Germany, Turkey, Sweden, Spain, France, Italy and Norway report the largest numbers of deaths.
There are also differences within countries, with some regions and cities much more affected than others.'
'Germany’s leap into homegrown medical marijuana is nothing if not orderly.
The government is moving to assure a local supply of the drug by giving out grower contracts for 10,400 kilograms (22,928 pounds) of pot over the next four years. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices’s so-called Cannabis Agency will choose between 79 bidders from growers by the end of June, the agency said on Monday.
Germany has relied on imports from the Netherlands and Canada since it legalized medical marijuana in March 2017. Now it’s aiming for the first local harvest by the end of next year. Producers and pharmacies will still be allowed to buy from foreign growers, but the tender will ensure a high-quality native supply is also available, said Maik Pommer, a spokesman for the drugs agency.'
'Legalizing marijuana is one of the rare issues that unites the FDP, the Green party and the Left party. The opposition parties argue that keeping cannabis on the black market prevents patients from getting the help they need, and puts recreational consumers at risk of being exposed to questionable products that could be laced with harmful chemicals or harder drugs.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) have remained strongly opposed to legal cannabis. Germany's other ruling party, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), remains on the fence.'
Those who feared legalization in Canada could stop the flow of medical cannabis imported to Germany can breathe a sigh of relief. Germany’s Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) confirmed it will continue to license the import of medical cannabis from Canada.
'Months after the initial process was derailed by lawsuits, the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) reissued the country’s first tender bid to cultivate and process medical cannabis domestically.'
'Three companies were chosen to cultivate medical marijuana in Germany – the result of a long-delayed application process to provide product for one of the largest medical cannabis markets in the world.
Canada’s Aphria received five of the 13 lots that were up for grabs, according to Hendrik Knopp, managing director of Aphria Deutschland.
The result “is a very important footstep toward our twofold strategy of establishing a high-quality, in-country cultivation in Germany and importing additional flowers and oil from Canada and Denmark to provide the German market with complete cannabis medicine offering,” Knopp told Marijuana Business Daily'
'Dutch Health Minister Hugo de Jonge and his German counterpart, Jens Spahn, agreed to more than double medical cannabis shipments from the current 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds) per year to 1,500 kilograms, according to the Der Spiegel newspaper.'
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