‘The way is clear’ for Germany’s growing list of municipalities, universities and cannabis businesses to launch model research projects into adult-use cannabis.
Germany’s Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) this week announced that it has officially signed ordinance which will see it become the regulating authority for model projects in the country.
While this will come as a significant relief for the now 27 municipalities federal states which have already expressed an interest in launching such pilots, this ‘important step’ comes with some caveats.
Primarily, BMEL has made it clear that this does not constitute the long awaited ‘Pillar 2’ of Germany’s cannabis liberalisation project, which is now widely expected not to be coming at all.
With anti-cannabis parties extending their poll-lead ahead of February’s snap election, there is growing speculation that this measure could be repealed by the incoming government, piling on the pressure to launch these pilots as soon as possible.
What happened?
As previously reported by Business of Cannabis, under Chapter 1 Section 2 Paragraph 4 of the current CanG Act, ‘anyone who wants to possess, cultivate, produce, import, export, acquire, receive, deliver, pass on cannabis for scientific purposes, extract cannabinoids from the cannabis plant or trade in cannabis for scientific purposes requires a permit’.
In the April, 2024, draft bill, titled the ‘Consumer Cannabis Science Responsibility Ordinance’ (KCanWV), the Federal Office of Agriculture and Food (BLE), the administrative arm of BMEL, assigned itself as the responsible authority for permits, monitoring and implementing regulations.
Since cannabis is no longer classified as a narcotic following the passage of Pillar 1, the responsibility for overseeing cannabis model projects would shift from BfArM (the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices), which traditionally handles narcotics-related matters, to the BLE.
For months, the industry has been waiting for confirmation that BLE would indeed be the regulatory authority for these model projects, but stakeholders have wasted no time in preparing for the eventual confirmation, seeing a dozens of municipalities, companies and universities express their intention to do so.
This week, Agriculture Minister Özdemir of the Greens signed ordinance officially confirming his organisation as the regulator and allowing research projects to go ahead after the bill is brought into law, and applications can now be sent to the BLE.
“The regulation that has now been issued – the Consumer Cannabis Science Responsibility Regulation – stipulates that the Federal Office for Agriculture and Food will examine corresponding research applications and monitor the approved projects… Research on and with consumer cannabis is now possible again, but requires a permit. Applicants must meet the criteria set out in the Consumer Cannabis Act, demonstrate the required expertise and demonstrate an interest in research,” the ordinance read.
Not ‘Pillar 2’
Despite expectations, BMEL clarified that this is separate from the highly anticipated second pillar of the CanG Act.
As stated in the key points paper, Pillar 2 would test ‘specialty stores nationwide in a comprehensive and detailed law’, which is reportedly still being drafted by the Ministry of Health, which also still holds responsibility for signing off research projects for medical cannabis.
As such, this development now opens the door for a model which closely mirrors Switzerland, in which smaller individual studies into adult-use cannabis and industrial hemp can be carried out.
Pillar 2 is more nationally focused, and would involve the sale of adult-use cannabis in dedicated stores, aiming to generate wholeistic country-wide data on how the legalisation of adult-use cannabis would impact a number of societal and economic factors.
According to BMEL, the focus of the research projects now green lit should be on ‘better protection for young people, a stronger reduction in the black market and organised crime, and an increase in consumer protection through lower-risk forms of consumption’.
The research projects
In November, Hanover and Frankfurt published ‘letters of intent’ to launch controlled cannabis sales to thousands of participants through new model projects, which can now officially begin the approval process.
In collaboration with the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, the city has announced plans to launch a five-year study offering regulated adult-use cannabis to citizens from four specialised shops.
The primary aim of the study is to divert the city’s 50,000 reported cannabis users away from the black market, with studies suggesting a large majority of the cannabis available is contaminated either with other, more dangerous narcotics or contaminants like mould and pesticides.
German medical cannabis operator Sanity Group is set to supply and manage the stores, and according to its CEO Finn Age Hänsel, the company has been preparing for the launch of this trial for some time.
In tandem, the city of Hanover, supported by the Clinic for Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Hanover Medical School, announced plans to launch a similar study, which will also be supplied by Sanity Group.
The five-year study will recruit 4000 participants to study the effect of regulated cannabis sales on individual consumer behavior, alongside the impact on health, youth protection and the illicit market.
It is set to start at the same time as Frankfurt, and it will be supported by the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, while a comparative study will be conducted with members of the Cannabis Social Club Hannover e.V. (CSC).
These announcements followed similar statements of intent from the city of Wiesbaden in mid-August.
The industry association Cannabiswirtschaft e.V. (BvCW) has now called on interested universities and companies to submit applications in good time, and says that ‘at least’ 27 municipalities and federal states across Germany have expressed their interest in cannabis pilot projects to date.
A comprehensive list of these applications can be found here, and the organisation says ‘numerous companies and universities’ have also expressed interest.
“Various research projects will provide us with a new range of knowledge on how to best regulate the recreational cannabis market in the future. This is an important contribution to significantly reducing the black market in the medium to long term,’ says Dirk Heitepriem, President of the German Cannabis Industry Association (BvCW).
Canadian cannabis giant High Tide told Business of Cannabis that they are also preparing to take part in the new pilots.
“We at High Tide have closely monitored German legislative and regulatory developments since 2022. As such, we have been preparing to participate in these consumer research projects and have recruited prominent academics to develop a proposal focusing on consumer behavior.
“These research projects form just one pillar of a broader plan we have been working on to bring High Tide and our Canna Cabana brand to Germany, and we look forward to sharing further details soon,” Omar Khan, High Tide’s Chief Communications and Public Affairs Officer said.
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