Germany: medical cannabis production licenses on hold

The Higher Regional Court of Düsseldorf has put a stop to the controversial licensing process for the production of medical cannabis in Germany.

10 cultivation licenses were up for grabs, with 6,600 kilos of cannabis to be supplied to the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) from 2019 to 2022. The licenses should have been awarded in the coming weeks.

The Düsseldorf District Court ruled last Wednesday that the licensing process had not given companies enough time to prepare.

«The initial domestic supply was scheduled for early next year, however, we now expect German production to be pushed back by 6 to 12 months,» explains cannabis market analyst Neil Maruoka.

«When the allocation process resumes, the competition for licenses will be all the stronger.»

The court's decision follows to complaints from German companies who argued that the deadlines were too short and that certain requirements, such as having already grown cannabis legally, favored foreign applicants, particularly from Canada, with an existing medical cannabis program.

Applicants include Canopy Growth, MedReleaf, Aurora Cannabis and Aphria.

In the end, this pause benefits companies already licensed to export cannabis to Germany.

«This simply gives us more time to continue establishing ourselves as the leader in medical cannabis in Germany,» says Mike Gorenstein, CEO of Cronos, a Canadian cannabis producer already supplying Germany with cannabis products.

Some companies, such as Aphria, will take the opportunity to continue building their cannabis production facilities, while Aurora will increase its exports to Germany while domestic producers come on the market.

BfArM now has two choices: either to restart the selection process from scratch, which should take at least 6 months. Or complete the selection process and relaunch a more inclusive one. This second option would allow us to have licenses as early as May.

German patients are the most disadvantaged in the story: 1 year after the start of the program, the supply of medical cannabis in Germany is still unable to meet demand.