Bundestag Backtracks: 6-Month Rule for Medical Cannabis Scrapped, Flower stays Excluded!
On 15 October 2026, the German Bundestag passed its emergency care reform and, in the process, corrected one of the most controversial cannabis rules of the summer. With the votes of CDU/CSU, SPD and the Greens, and with AfD and Die Linke abstaining, Parliament also adopted Amendment 11. It rewrites Section 31(6) of the Social […]
300 Tonnes of Medical Cannabis: Demand, Not Abuse!
By Falk Altenhöfer Carsten Linnemann used his first major appearance as Federal Health Minister at the German Pharmacists’ Congress (Deutscher Apothekertag) in Munich to make a clear statement. Medical cannabis, he said, is now getting “completely out of hand.” Flower imports could rise to around 300 tonnes in 2026, ten times the 2023 level. For […]
Germany’s Flower Market Goes Self-Pay for 65,000 Patients Tomorrow!
29 July 2026 is the last day statutory patients in Germany hold a legal entitlement to cannabis flower. From tomorrow, a new framework applies. Three questions in it are still unanswered. The SHI Contribution Rate Stabilisation Act was published in the Federal Law Gazette on 29 July 2026 (BGBl. 2026 I No. 228). The revised […]
You Sell GACP Flower Into Germany and Call It GMP. That Might Be Over Soon. 8 Steps You Need to Take Now.
The one-sentence version German regulators and German pharmaceutical lawyers now have a name for what most exporters do: GMP-washing, applying EU-GMP process steps after harvest to make GACP-grown flower look compliant. It has a legal basis that predates the current debate by 17 years, and authorities are enforcing it. The legal basis is older than […]
Germany Slashes Insurance Coverage for Medical Cannabis Patients
Germany’s Bundestag and Bundesrat passed a health-insurance cost-savings law on July 10, 2026 (the GKV-Beitragssatzstabilisierungsgesetz) that sharply cuts back coverage of medical cannabis under the country’s statutory health insurance system, known as the GKV, the public plan that covers roughly 90% of Germans. For the estimated 65,000 patients currently receiving cannabis flower or compounded cannabis […]
Germany’s Interior Ministers Tried to Roll Back Cannabis Legalization: They Got Blocked by a Procedural Rule. Craft Cannabis Lives On.
At their June 17–19 conference in Hamburg, Germany’s 16 state interior ministers (the “IMK”) voted on a hardline proposal from the state of Hesse that would have gutted key parts of Germany’s 2024 partial cannabis legalization. The two most damaging proposals — a public consumption ban and a freeze on new cultivation-association licenses — were […]
The Race for Germany: Curaleaf’s Full Takeover of Four 20 Pharma Signals a New Phase of Market Consolidation
With High Tide, Sanity Group and now Curaleaf all fortifying their positions, Germany’s medical cannabis market is becoming a strategic battleground for international operators. The announcement came quietly — no fanfare, no press conference — but the strategic signal was loud. On April 30, 2026, Curaleaf Holdings completed the buyout of the remaining 45% stake […]
Why the DocMorris Model Won’t Save Cannabis Platforms – And What the BGH Really Decided
At first glance, this looks like a routine advertising law dispute. On closer inspection, it’s a landmark ruling on the business model of an entire industry. First, Understand: What Is DocMorris? DocMorris is Europe’s largest online pharmacy. The model is straightforward: you have a prescription from your doctor, upload it to the app, and your […]
Germany’s Cannabis Law Turns Two — And Conservative Politicians Are Still Ignoring the Science
How Germany’s cannabis legalisation anniversary played out in the media — and what the science actually says The Weekend’s Media Echo in One Sentence Conservative interior ministers dominated every headline. The data told a different story. On 1 April 2024, Germany’s Konsumcannabisgesetz (KCanG) — the Recreational Cannabis Act — came into force as part of […]
Home growing season is here. So are Germany’s first supermarket cannabis seeds.
Monday, March 9, 2026. Netto stores across Germany put cannabis seed packets on their shelves for the first time — sitting right next to tomato and basil seeds. For Ronny Sievers and Florian Kröckel, the founders of Gutmut Saatgut, it was the moment that turned more than a year of patient negotiation into something nobody […]