Aurora Cannabis Inc. is closing some of its European operations as the cannabis producer opts to consolidate its presence in the continent amid soft demand for medical pot, according to an internal memo obtained by BNN Bloomberg. 

Aurora told its employees last week that it will shut its offices in Portugal, Spain, and Italy while reducing its European workforces by one-quarter in select countries and its regional office, the memo said. The Edmonton-based company will shift its European headquarters from Germany to its Denmark office while acquiring the remaining 49 per cent of its Danish business that it doesn't already own, the company said. 

Israel has officially overtaken Germany as the largest importer of medicinal cannabis in the world so far in 2020, according to data compiled by Tel Aviv-based Cannabis Magazine and Marijuana Business Daily.

According to data reported by MJBizDaily, about three metric tons were imported into Germany as of end of May for pharmacy dispensing, based on replies to a parliamentary inquiry.

Dr Franjo Grotenhermen tells MCN about medical cannabis policy and practice in Germany.

The coronavirus pandemic led to a decrease in the use of party drugs like MDMA and cocaine, but also to an increase in pot use, according to Global Drug Survey.

Forty thousand people from 12 countries participated in the online survey that looked at changes in alcohol and drug-related habits during the global health crisis. The 12 countries included in the study were Germany, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, the United Kingdom, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Brazil, and Switzerland. 

Based on the data, nearly a fifth of people reported that they used less cocaine during lockdown, while 29% said they used less MDMA, popularly known as ecstasy or molly. 

Luc Springinsfeld of leading investment bank Bryan, Garnier & Co explores the European medical cannabis market and the rise of medical cannabis investment in Europe.

In 2019, Germany led the EU in both cannabis oil imports and exports, and not by small numbers. The Germans are proving themselves to be big cannabis users, and big cannabis producers as well.

When it comes to the cannabis market, the EU is a large and growing market of consumers which doesn’t produce as much as it uses. It also still has several parts which haven’t legalized cannabis under any circumstances, medical or otherwise, leaving the door open for future expansion as laws loosen up across Europe in the next few years.

Australian medical cannabis company Althea Group (ASX:AGH) has announced details of a deal with a major German pharmaceutical wholesaler.

Following on from a previously announced Memorandum of Understanding with Nimbus Health GmbH, the pair have inked an agreement that will see Althea supply its full range of medical cannabis products to Nimbus over a three year period. It’s expected supply to Nimbus will commence in the second half of this year, assuming timely approval by German regulatory authorities.

According to Althea Group, Nimbus Health accounts for approximately 25% of medicinal cannabis sales in Germany; so a significant amount of product may be moved over the three years.

Exploring regulation and policy in Germany, the world’s third largest legal cannabis market outside North America.

As of December 2019, Germany represented the world’s third largest market for legal cannabis-based products outside of North America. Since the country moved to legalise the prescribing of cannabis for medical use to severely ill patients in 2017, around 60,000 patients have received cannabis prescriptions through their health insurance providers.

With the German approach to cannabis policy increasingly held up as a model for fellow EU Member States, MCN explores cannabis regulation in Germany.

Medical marijuana in Germany, one of the world's top markets for that form of the drug, experienced a boom in 2019. Quoting statistics from the country's National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, Marijuana Business Daily said that insurance companies reimbursed German patients 123 million euros ($136 million) that year for cannabis as medicine. That was 67% higher than the 2018 figure.

Much of this was due to a leap in the number of prescriptions for the drug. These rose by 44% year over year to reach over 267,000 in total. The disparity between the gains in the sales figure and the number of prescriptions suggests that patients were being prescribed larger amounts.

Shortly before the third anniversary of the cannabis law as medicine, the Free Democratic Party (FDP) has asked the federal government about the turnover of medical cannabis in the past year in a small inquiry. Among other things, the FDP wanted to know whether the annual cultivation quantity of 2.6 t would be sufficient for the continuously increasing number of patients and which medical cannabis products were actually sold to patients.

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