German Cannabis Business Association
SPD calls for adjustments to the MedCanG amendment draft in the Bundestag
2025-12-19 | KrautInvest reports on the first reading of the amendment to the Medical Cannabis Act (MedCanG) in the Bundestag, during which Health Minister Nina Warken defended the draft bill. For the SPD parliamentary group, Matthias Mieves stated that the current draft in its present form would harm seriously ill patients. Especially people in rural regions without adequate infrastructure depend on telemedicine and mail-order supply. Matthias Mieves expressed confidence that discussions with the CDU/CSU could lead to a solution that curbs abuse while safeguarding patient care. Linda Heitmann of the Greens also criticized the draft, pointing to an underlying “general suspicion” against patients and noting that medication dependence is a greater issue in other areas than in medical cannabis. However, she was critical of advertising for cannabis products in public spaces. Speaking for The Left, Ates Gürpinar warned that closing legal sources of supply would strengthen the black market. His accusation against the government was: “You are pushing people into illegality and calling it health.”
The draft bill will now be revised primarily in the Health Committee. Since the CDU/CSU requires SPD support for passage in the Bundestag, an agreement in committee is considered a prerequisite for further progress. The AfD has already announced its support for the minister’s draft, but this is regarded as a politically unrealistic option for the government. The first reading of the amendment draft can be found here. The hearing in the Bundestag Health Committee is scheduled for 2026-01-14. Registration to attend is possible here until 2026-01-12, 15:00.
Outside the Bundestag debate, Mieves emphasized on Abgeordnetenwatch that his parliamentary group opposes a mail-order ban and supports an initial medical consultation, which in 2025 could also take place via video consultation. The SPD would not abandon people who rely on secure access to care.
SPD members Carmen Wegge and Christos Pantazis also consider the draft unacceptable and announced fundamental changes, according to beck-aktuell. Katharina Dröge of Alliance 90/The Greens likewise rejected restrictions on care structures and instead called for an evidence-based discussion. Support for this position was voiced by Niklas Kouparanis, CEO of the Bloomwell Group, as reported among others by Apotheke Adhoc. He stated that restricting telemedicine and imposing a mail-order ban would be absurd given the pressure on statutory health insurance funds and could, according to a study, lead to additional costs of EUR 2.9 billion. He called for facts rather than prejudices to be considered in committee deliberations.
The Federal Association of Pharmaceutical Cannabinoid Companies (BPC) warned in a statement of deteriorating patient care and emphasized that telemedicine offers an opportunity for immobile patients, particularly in rural areas. A mail-order ban would also place a one-sided burden on local German pharmacies. Legal concerns were raised by Jeannine Pettersson of the law firm CMS, who noted that there is no evidence that shipping cannabis is riskier than shipping other prescription medicines. Enno Burk and Christoph Schoppe of Gleiss Lutz also consider alternative regulations such as mandatory video consultations to be sufficient.
Dr. Armin Hoffmann, President of the German Federal Chamber of Pharmacists (BAK), welcomed the planned ban. Medicines are not consumer goods and do not belong on commercial platforms. Nationwide supply could be ensured by local pharmacies and their pharmaceutical staff via delivery services.
Also in German Cannabis politics December 2025
CDU/CSU parliamentary group distances itself from Minister Warken on cannabis legislation
2025-12-17 | According to a recent media report by MOZ, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag is distancing itself from the plans of Federal Health Minister Nina Warken. The SPD parliamentary group has already signaled that it will not approve the draft law in its current form (see main report).
Within the CDU/CSU group, a move away from the minister’s hard-line stance appears to be emerging ahead of negotiations on Wednesday. The Union’s health policy spokesperson, Simone Borchardt, who is negotiating the law together with Federal Drug Commissioner Hendrik Streeck, stated that the signals from the coalition partner must be taken seriously and that viable solutions should be sought. While a purely self-declared assessment based on anonymous online questionnaires without medical review is not acceptable for the Union, telemedicine could in principle play a role if embedded in clear rules.
Borchardt also appeared more flexible than her own minister regarding online mail-order supply. Provided that mail-order pharmacies meet the same requirements as brick-and-mortar pharmacies, there would be no substantive reason to exclude them across the board. She said she wanted to discuss the issue openly and without ideological blinders. Niklas Kouparanis, co-founder and CEO of the Bloomwell Group, criticized the fact that forcing patients back into physical medical practices runs counter to the digitalization goals that the parliamentary group otherwise strongly supports.
Greens Criticize Federal Government’s “Obstructionist Stance” on Cannabis Liberalization
2025-12-10 | The Greens in the Bundestag have sharply criticized the current federal government, consisting of CDU, CSU, and SPD, for its approach to the further development of cannabis policy, according to Tagesspiegel. Linda Heitmann, a member of the Health Committee, and her parliamentary group complain of a “fatal obstructionist stance” by the government, which is neither approving model projects nor pursuing the originally planned law for the so-called second pillar.
In a minor parliamentary inquiry to the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG), the Greens addressed the fact that the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE) has so far not granted a single approval for scientific model projects applied for under the “research clause” of the Cannabis Act (KCanG). These projects, planned in cities such as Hanover and Frankfurt in cooperation with academic institutions, were intended to generate robust evidence on the effects of regulated cannabis distribution on health and youth protection as well as on the black market. Heitmann criticized the government for blocking precisely those studies that could demonstrate “how regulated distribution can strengthen youth protection, better protect health, and push back the black market.”
Green MP Misbah Khan criticized that the responses revealed the federal government had no reliable data on the situation. She emphasized: “Instead of relying on facts, cannabis policy is apparently being approached from a purely ideological perspective.”
Despite criticism of the law, the BMG’s responses pointed to positive effects: the number of cannabis-related offenses had declined as expected, and between 2023 and 2024 there had been a 26 percent decrease in proceedings for violations of the Narcotics Act at public prosecutor’s offices. However, the Greens are calling for this success to be further developed rather than merely interpreting the law strictly and shifting responsibility for implementation entirely to the federal states.
With regard to cannabis cultivation associations, the federal government stated that it has no independent findings on the exact number of licensed clubs in the federal states, as responsibility for granting permits lies with the states. The federal government points out “that the ‘Federal Association of Cannabis Cultivation Associations’ serves as an interest group for cannabis cultivation associations within the German Cannabis Business Association (BvCW)” and regularly publishes updated figures on the status of permit approvals in the states at the following link.
Interior Ministers Call for Stricter Cannabis Rules: “Legalization Leads to Massive Problems”
2025-12-05 | The Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK) of the federal states, which met in Bremen from 3 to 4 December 2025, stated in an official resolution that law enforcement authorities are significantly restricted in their investigative powers when pursuing simple commercial trafficking in not insignificant quantities of cannabis, particularly with regard to the ability to order telecommunications surveillance. The conference asked the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), in coordination with the Federal Ministry of Justice (BMJ), to promptly submit a legislative proposal to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure in order to remedy these limitations. An urgent expansion of powers was deemed necessary.
Lower Saxony’s SPD Interior Minister Daniela Behrens stated in the report that the law in its current form was “completely unsuitable” for pushing back illegal drug trafficking on the black market. She explained that legal sources – home cultivation and cannabis clubs – were far from meeting the “immense demand,” allowing illegal trade to continue generating large profits for criminals. Hesse’s CDU Interior Minister Roman Poseck called for a “freeze on approvals for cultivation associations,” which apparently failed to gain a majority within the IMK. However, it was decided that the monthly distribution limit of 50 grams per person should be “significantly reduced” and that a reduction of the public possession limit of 25 grams should be “examined.” In a protocol note, the BMI and the state of Baden-Württemberg stated that “legalization” (apparently referring to the current partial legalization) had been “a mistake.”
