ICBC
“These include 34 model projects designed to investigate consumption, health protection, and social impacts under controlled conditions.” stated the German Cannabis Business Association in a recent newsletter (translated from German to English).
Germany became the fifth country to adopt a national adult-use cannabis legalization measure when lawmakers implemented the nation’s historic CanG law in April 2024. Only Uruguay, Canada, Malta, and Luxembourg had adopted such a public policy change before Germany.
The legalization model adopted in Germany was broken up into two phases, or ‘pillars’. The first involved legalizing personal cannabis cultivation, possession, and consumption by adults, along with permitting cultivation associations.
The second component of German legalization involves launching regional adult-use cannabis commerce pilot trials in which local jurisdictions can allow limited sales of recreational cannabis products for research purposes. Pilot trials are already underway in several jurisdictions in the Netherlands and Switzerland, with no major issues reported.
A major premise of German legalization is to boost public health outcomes by transitioning consumers away from the unregulated market toward a combination of home cultivation and acquiring cannabis from regulated sources. A key ingredient to success on this front is scientific research, which is why the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food needs to approve the pending applications, especially the applications for pilot trials.
A coalition of German scientists recently issued an open letter addressed to the federal government and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food, calling for the approval of pending research applications.
“Despite the accompanying EKOCAN research, Germany lacks a reliable database on the use of cannabis. Research projects pursuant to Section 2 Paragraph 4 of the Cannabis Act are legally permissible and crucial for still unresolved questions regarding youth and health protection, the illegal market, and consumer behavior. The undersigned scientists therefore call on the Federal Government and the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) to quickly approve the current applications in order to enable an evidence-based drug policy.” the letter states (translated from German to English).
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