Three months after decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of weed, the federal government is authorizing, from Monday July 1, these associative structures which should allow smokers to access a legal circuit for the production and distribution of cannabis.
After decriminalization, cannabis social clubs will be able to open in Germany. Three months after legislating on weed, the federal state is authorizing these structures from this Monday, July 1st, which must allow smokers to access a legal circuit of production and distribution of cannabis, with a little patience until the first harvest. This is a second step after, on April 1st, Germany decriminalized the possession of cannabis in limited quantities.
The clubs will allow amateurs to cultivate plants and share the harvest with each other. In these associations open only to residents in Germany, members over the age of 21 will be able to purchase a maximum of 50 grams of weed per month (30 grams for adults under 21).
The anticipation is tangible: “Mariana Cannabis”, an organization that brings together 180 clubs across the country, already claims to have 20,000 members. However, there are still no seeds or plants on their land located near Leverkusen, in the west of the country. This is due to the administrative process that requires each club, limited to 500 members, to apply for an operating license, which can take up to three months to obtain.
In Munich, the Cantura cannabis club is already full. Its members have been contributing 25 euros per month since March. Between the cost of premises, the security system and very energy-intensive cultivation equipment, the necessary investment amounts to hundreds of thousands of euros, according to Fabian Baumann, its president. The 30-year-old is also waiting for only one thing to start planting: the operating permit, which he hopes for in October at the latest. “We need about eight weeks from cutting to harvest. If all goes well, we will be able to provide cannabis to our members this year. That would be wonderful”he said.
“There is the idea of being careful and evaluating in real time”
The German government hopes to combat trafficking and crime by creating a legal channel. “The German model plays on progressiveness. There is the idea of being careful and evaluating in real time”observes Ivana Obradovic, deputy director of the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT), and coordinator of a study on the implementation of legalization in North America. “The idea is to keep control of the supply to prevent it from growing rapidly”she explains, recalling that one of the paradoxes of legalization in the United States is to have created “a situation of overproduction, particularly in California and Oregon, where production exceeds local demand 5 to 6 times”.
On the other hand, all countries where legalization has been implemented have observed a decline in the black market, more or less rapid depending on the models. In Canada, only 40% of cannabis smokers obtained their supplies from the legal market in the year following legalization in 2018, compared to 75% today, according to figures from the OFDT.
Blütezeit, a Berlin-based cannabis start-up, hopes that Germany will go even further and allow sales in pharmacies or state-licensed stores in the future. For its leader Nikolaos Katsaras, only a commercial, competitive and lucrative market can compete with a black market that has been structured for years. While waiting for this hypothetical legal sale, Blütezeit has brought together an online community of 10,000 members and plans to develop cannabis social clubs, e-commerce and telemedicine services for medical use of the plant.
Doctor of Economics, Nikolaos Katsaras explains “take the pulse of the market”The only fear of this business leader is the 2025 parliamentary elections and a change of government. The leader of the opposition Christian Democrats (CDU), Friedrich Merz, who is well ahead in voting intentions, has announced that he will cancel the legalization of cannabis if his party returns to power.
