27/12/2023
BY BUSINESS OF CANNABIS
Kai-Friedrich Niermann, Founder, KFN Law Office
2023 was a rollercoaster ride of emotions for the German cannabis industry. In April 2023, the surprising change of course on cannabis legalisation came when Federal Ministers Özdemir and Lauterbach announced that there would be no commercial route in Germany.
Due to international and European obligations, only decriminalisation with home grow and collective home grow could take place, and the commercial route would first have to be researched with model projects.
In August, the German government then presented a draft that could hardly be stricter and more prohibitive.
And still, in December 2023, it is not even clear whether this completely over-regulated draft, designed with old and new penal provisions, will even be put to a final reading and vote in the Bundestag.
Possession of three live plants for personal cultivation will be possible next year, but paradoxically, people will only be allowed to store a maximum of 50g of dry cannabis per person in their household. It is also questionable whether and how many cultivation associations will even be established next year due to the bureaucratic overkill.
