The break in the ranks makes Munich CSU city counsellor (and medical doctor) Hans Theiss one of the first center right politicians in the German government to express support for recreational reform.

Hans Theiss has just made German history. He just came out publicly in favor of recreational cannabis reform.

This does not make him unusual right now as the country moves, however slowly and haltingly, towards a new cannabis reality. What does is where he is from—both geographically and politically.

Geographically, he represents constituents from a wealthy city in Bavaria, one of the country’s largest and most metropolitan cities. That said, Bayern is sometimes referred to as the “Texas” of Germany not to mention the most “rule-based” state in the country.

Klum reportedly met with Burkhard Blienert, Germany’s federal commissioner on narcotic drugs, in a secret meeting.

Supermodel and businesswoman Heidi Klum reportedly met with a senior drug official in Germany recently to voice her support for cannabis legalization.

Per The Times, Klum met with Burkhard Blienert, federal commissioner for narcotic drugs, in a secret meeting.

According to local media reports, Blienert had been expecting to discuss drug abuse issues with the Project Runway star and was surprised to, instead, hear Klum’s pitch for legalization.

It was also reported that Finn Hänsel, 30, founder and CEO of the Berlin-based cannabis company, Sanity Group, attended the meeting.

German startup Revoltech announces it has closed a seven-figure seed round for leather substitute LOVR, made of hemp fibres from the leftover residues of CBD products. The funds will bring the 100% biodegradable, plastic-free and climate-neutral material to market.

LOVR stands for “leather-like-without plastic-vegan-residue-based” and was developed with the goal of transforming the leather industry by introducing a truly sustainable material made from agricultural waste. Its production is based on the principles of the circular economy and does not involve the use of chemicals.

When Germany's new coalition included the legalization of recreational cannabis in its political agenda in late 2021, there were few details on how to regulate the industry.

However, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach announced last week that it would start the legal process for cannabis legalization soon.

He told German newspaper Handelsblatt he changed his mind on legalization over the past two years, and he now believes the dangers of non-legalization outweigh the risks of recreational cannabis legalization.

"I've always been opposed to cannabis legalization, but I revised my position about a year ago," he said.

In addition, Finance Minister Christian Lindner confirmed that the process of legalizing recreational cannabis has started.

If anyone thought that the road to cannabis reform was going to be easy, a decision last week in Cologne, Germany has just confirmed the fact that this is going to be a prolonged battle, fought all the way with regressive skirmishes and undoubtedly, setbacks.

Here is the latest example. Shockingly, the Administrative Court in Cologne has just ruled that the legal classification of CBD drops (i.e. good old CBD extract) are medical products. As such, they must be approved by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM)—Germany’s version of the American Food and Drug Administration (or FDA).

CBD of Denver, Inc. (OTC Pink: CBDD), a distributor of CBD and unique CBD products sold in Switzerland and throughout Europe, is pleased to announce its expansion into the German medical cannabis market with the hiring of Bijan Hezarkhani to lead CBD of Denver's growth in this fast growing European market. Bijan has extensive experience in the cannabis industry, including building out a medical cannabis franchise in Germany. He was the business development manager for Khiron Life Sciences for the last three years, visiting doctors and pharmacies in Germany to build Khiron's medical cannabis business. Previously, he spent time at Canopy Growth as a business analyst covering Europe.

Hundreds of marijuana users gathered in the German capital to mark 420, the annual cannabis celebration, and demand legalization of the drug. Germany's new government has promised a new law.

At least 500 pro-legalization protesters gathered in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate on Wednesday for 420, the annual April 20 celebration marked by cannabis consumers around the world, to urge the government to move forward with its plans to decriminalize the drug.

The police presence, enough to fill several police vans parked around the demo, prevailed on organizers to turn the German hip-hop and rap music down, but made no overt attempt to trace the many clouds of smoke hanging above the small crowd.

Calvin Broadus, a.k.a. Snoop Dogg, rocked the stage at Sunday’s Super Bowl, and now his Casa Verde Capital team is pumping new funds into Frankfurt-based Cansativa Group, touted as the “largest medical cannabis distributor” in Germany. (Image Credits: Cansativa Group / Cansativa Group's Benedikt Sons and Jakob Sons)

Cansativa Group came onto the scene in 2017 with business-to-business tools for customers to manage every stage of the cannabis value chain — from importing goods to distributing them — and all associated logistics required to get product to thousands of pharmacies. It also distributes equipment and ancillaries to pharmacy customers throughout Germany.

Newsmaker: Anna-Sophia Kouparanis

Anna-Sophia Kouparanis, 28, wears many hats; being on the Forbes 30 under 30 list this year is one of them.

In 2019, Kouparanis founded  Ilios Santé and came to be known “as the first woman in Germany to be a licensed wholesaler for cannabis,” Forbes reports.

Then came Bloomwell Group a year later. A holding company that invests and builds other companies in the healthcare sector, Bloomwell also includes Algea Care, a telemedicine company for cannabis.Her goal is to “revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry through natural medicines and digitization, which is long overdue,”  Forbes  reports.

The news has been rumbling for a week after a German language magazine first reported the news. Now it is official. Germany will be legalizing recreational use cannabis as early as 2022.

Even the most die-hard “medical only” German voices within the cannabis industry have been posting the news all over their social media including LinkedIn for the past week, even before the news was official. But as of Wednesday, that has changed, officially. The new so-called “Traffic Light Coalition” will indeed be legalizing recreational use cannabis with a bill to do so introduced in the German Bundestag next year.