The blistering progress of Germany’s medical hashish sector confirmed no indicators of abating by way of the second quarter of 2025, with imports rising one other 15% to hit new data.
New figures from the Federal Institute for Medicine and Medical Gadgets (BfArM), printed this week, confirmed that the overall amount of medical hashish flower imported into Germany by way of April, Might and June hit 43.3 tonnes, up from 37.5 in Q1.
This exponential progress might quickly be tamed, because the German authorities prepares to impose controversial restrictions on telehealth prescriptions, seemingly resulting in dramatic oversupply in an already saturated market.
With the deadline for public session on the proposed adjustments to medical hashish regulation now closed, and a wider report on the affect of the CanG Act anticipated within the coming months, Europe’s hashish darling faces an unsure future.
Document import volumes
Canada has remained the dominant provider of hashish to Germany, as all through a lot of the world, seeing volumes improve by over 1 / 4 in Q2, totalling over 20 tonnes, practically half of the overall for the interval.
Portugal additionally continued to see exports into Germany improve, rising an extra 11% to just about 13.5 tonnes.
With different international locations, notably in South America, seeing vital declines in export volumes, it’s seemingly that extra hashish is coming into Germany by way of Portugal, with producers sending uncooked product to Portugal for processing earlier than heading to the German market.
Imports from Africa additionally noticed a big rise over the interval, with imports coming from South Africa and Lesotho rising 37% and 49% respectively.
Equally, imports from the east of Europe have been additionally ramped up over the interval, with the Czech Republic (17%) and North Macedonia (27%) additionally seeing double-digit will increase.
Firstly, Q2 2025 noticed a bigger improve in imported volumes over the earlier quarter than Q1 did, which exhibits that not solely is the market rising, however the charge at which it’s rising remains to be rising.
Prohibition Companions’ Senior Analyst, Lawrence Purkiss, advised Enterprise of Hashish: “We imagine that the roughly one tonne of hashish marked as coming from the UK is definitely coming from Jersey, which is a optimistic indication for the success of hashish cultivation there.
“Everyone seems to be, in fact, now bracing for the affect of the brand new rules coming by way of in Germany. As soon as they do take impact, it will likely be a problem for operators to hyperlink provide with demand.
“With the volumes of imports nonetheless rising, the market goes to want to search out various strategies to get these merchandise into the arms of sufferers effectively. If such strategies can’t be discovered, then the market will likely be in a scenario of great oversupply.”
Affected person affect and issues over return to the black market
As we reported final month, the German Federal Ministry of Well being just lately confirmed and printed a draft modification concentrating on the loosely regulated telemedicine market in Germany.
The federal government’s justification for the transfer was tied to this staggering stage of progress and fears that the system is being abused by each operators and sufferers.
As such, the brand new amendments suggest, amongst different issues, making in-person consultations necessary, and crucially banning prescriptions from being despatched on to sufferers’ houses, as an alternative being disbursed by way of pharmacies.
A public session interval adopted quickly afterwards, with the deadline coming to an finish final week (August 01).
Now, submissions from various organisations (all of which have been compiled by Krautinvest right here) will likely be thought of by the federal government, earlier than any additional amendments will likely be made to the laws.
In its formal response, German Hashish Enterprise Affiliation (BvCW) says it helps efforts to curb prescription abuse, however argues that a number of proposed measures threat creating new obstacles for authentic sufferers.
It argues that these adjustments would notably hurt sufferers in rural areas, who usually depend on on-line ordering as a result of specialist pharmacies are scarce. It warns that chopping off this provide channel might push sufferers again to the black market.
The affiliation additionally requires worth regulation to stay clear and constant. It desires lawmakers to explicitly verify that hashish flowers stay topic to Germany’s current pharmaceutical worth controls, to keep away from reimbursement disputes and guarantee uniform pricing throughout the nation.
Whereas the Federal Union of German Associations of Pharmacists (ABDA) helps the banning of mail-order medical hashish, it has additionally raised issues about pricing throughout the nation, proposing that MedCanG be amended to explicitly require the applying of drug worth controls to hashish flowers to shut a regulatory loophole.
The issues raised over affected person entry have been mirrored by Bloomwell Group, which has printed new information on the unfold of medical hashish sufferers throughout the nation.
It suggests sufferers within the south are way more more likely to have prescriptions than these within the north, and that nearly half of all sufferers reside greater than 10 kilometres from a pharmacy licensed to dispense hashish remedy.
“If half of hashish sufferers can’t legally get hold of their medicine from a pharmacy inside a 10-kilometre radius, what various stays moreover the illicit market?” requested Bloomwell’s co-founder and chief govt, Niklas Kouparanis.
He predicted the modification wouldn’t move in its present kind, noting that the Social Democratic Social gathering, a coalition accomplice within the governing CDU-led authorities, has already stated it won’t help measures that would undermine affected person security with out sturdy proof.
