Germany’s medical agency is preparing to announce the results of its cannabis licensing tender later in the coming months, with 13 cultivation and supply bids due to be approved.

The European Union’s largest market has thus far made a pig’s ear of its licensing process, having legalized medicinal cannabis in 2017, but indications are the courts will side with the government over the application process and allow business to resume.

Nearly everyone has focused on Aurora Cannabis' (NYSE:ACB) great opportunity in the Canadian recreational marijuana market. The company has gotten off to a pretty good start with that opportunity, capturing a 20% market share in its latest quarter.

But nearly everyone also knows that Aurora's future rides largely on international medical marijuana markets. The largest of these international opportunities right now is Germany. On Tuesday, Aurora Cannabis announced that it had begun selling cannabis oils to German pharmacies. It's a milestone that should mean that higher revenue and profit margins are on the way. 

Technically, medical marijuana is already legal in Germany. But the demand since it was legalized in March 2017 has surprised government officials and led to frequent shortages in pharmacies, with no domestic production in sight.

The problems are compounded by the fact that Germany doesn’t yet have domestic cannabis production. All of the medical marijuana has to be imported, mostly from the Netherlands and Canada, which have established industries. Experts predict the domestic market will reach as much as €6 billion ($6.9 billion) in sales over the next 10 years.

Aphria Inc. ("Aphria" or the "Company") (TSX: APHA and NYSE: APHA) today announced its proposed acquisition of CC Pharma GmbH ("CC Pharma"), a leading distributor of pharmaceutical products to more than 13,000 pharmacies in Germany. The transaction, when closed, will strengthen the Company's end-to-end medical cannabis operations and infrastructure in Germany, a key market in Aphria's international expansion. It is anticipated that the transaction will close in January 2019.

With Canada legalising recreational marijuana, the coming year could be the one that cements the mainstreaming of cannabis on a global scale. While the substance has long been decriminalized in Portugal and the Netherlands, on 17 October, Canada became the first G7 country to legalise recreational purchase from federally licensed vendors and the second overall, five years after Uruguay did so. 

In practice, this means adults in Canada can possess up to 30 grams and grow as many as four plants. With legalisation, the country is, in effect, moving towards a landscape in which cannabis is treated similar to alcohol and tobacco, namely, as a highly regulated product intended for adult consumption.

Shares of Tilray surged as much as 9% in premarket trading on Thursday after the Canadian medical-cannabis producer said it had received regulatory approval to export more products to Germany.

Tilray’s medical-cannabis oil was already on shelves in German pharmacies. The company will soon be able to sell its whole-flower products in addition, making it the only producer that sells both types in Germany.

Martini Meinreiß is a former construction worker, who in his words, "got infected with the cannabis legalization virus" several years ago. His blond-white dreads speak of an earlier chapter in his life spent as a bit of an international adventurer, writes Margueritte Arnold. These days, when not working on cannabis-related diplomatic missions of all kinds, he can be found in his garden and with the grandkids (from several extended families).

Cannabis has traveled the world and was found in the sites of prehistoric nomads, ancient China, Indian culture and Viking Ships. The origin of Cannabis dates back to thousands of years in Asia and eventually spread to the Americas and the United States. Through most of the historic journey, Cannabis has been used for a medicinal and spiritual purpose.

The demand for medical marijuana in Germany has skyrocketed since it was legalised in March last year, placing a greater burden on the country's health insurance providers to cover the cost of prescriptions.

A new report published by German health insurance company Techniker-Krankenkasse, or TK, and the University of Bremen found that as of February nearly 16,000 patients nationwide had applied to be reimbursed for medical marijuana costs, compared to around 1,100 before the law came into effect.

The authors of the "Cannabis Report" also question the medical benefits of cannabis, often touted as an "herbal wonder drug."