Medical Cannabis Sales in Germany

Why are Ukrainian patients forced to believe that it is necessary to pay a lot of money for a deliberately worse product if the country has a mechanism for the legal cultivation of industrial hemp, which has tremendous therapeutic properties. The cost of raw materials thus obtained is several orders of magnitude cheaper than flowers with similar characteristics grown in greenhouses / rooms using lamps, ventilation, security systems, etc.

The pages of the profile electronic publication of Ukrainian hemp breeders have already focused our readers on the trends that are taking place in the Uruguayan Legal Recreational Hemp Market . The information presented in this article further confirms the fact that patients both in South America and Europe for medical purposes acquire primarily hemp leaves and inflorescences (flowers), which have a significant therapeutic effect. This is primarily due to the cost and quality of hemp preparations, which are much more expensive than legally sold raw materials (hemp flowers) and, among other things, have less therapeutic effect than cannabisa green mass.

Medical cannabis sales covered by insurance in Germany (the largest market outside of North America) continued to grow throughout the first quarter of 2019. According to government agencies, in the first three months of 2019, sales of hemp products covered by insurance amounted to € 24.5 million ($ 27.5 million), an increase of 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018 (according to compared with the first quarter of 2018 increased by 78%).

Medical Cannabis Sales Data Submitted by the German National Association of Compulsory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband)

Information provided by the Association "sheds light" on the state of one of the world's largest markets for medical hemp. In particular, the data demonstrate that sales:

•  “unprocessed flowers” ​​increased by 10% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the previous quarter;

• the  number of drugs increased by 7% (over the same period);

• The  number of finished pharmaceutical products sold increased by 2%, despite the fact that German regulators and medical associations would prefer more sales of pharmaceutical products than flowers and drugs.

Data on the coverage of medical hemp patients in Germany are presented in three main categories:

•  unprocessed hemp flowers, which were imported from the Netherlands and Canada (Germany only in 2019 issued the first permits to German companies for the legal cultivation of psychoactive hemp in the country and it is expected that national crops will be obtained by the end of 2020);

•  hemp preparations - chopped imported hemp flowers, Dronabinol preparations prescribed by the doctor's prescription and hemp extracts from Canadian firms Tilray and Aurora Cannabis. In 2019, Canopy Growth of Canada acquired the cannabinoid division of Bionorica, which is the only manufacturer and supplier of dronabinol in Germany;

•  finished pharmaceutical products, including Sativex and Canemes, which have permission to trade in Germany, as well as other finished drugs without registration (Marinol). 

Commentary of the Ukrainian Technical Hemp Association

Sales data is based on retail prices in pharmacies, the only authorized points of sale for patients. For all products not included in “finished pharmaceutical preparations”, pharmacies charge up to 100%.

Considering the average retail price of 20 euros per gram of “raw flower,” 579 kilograms of this product were covered by compulsory health insurance in the first quarter of 2019. This does not apply to inflorescences that have been processed (included in the category of hemp preparations).

An approximate figure of 579 kilograms also does not include flowers sold by private recipes. GKV-Spitzenverband data includes only sales that are “covered” by compulsory health insurance.

Germany imported 765 kilograms of flowers for sale in pharmacies in the first quarter of 2019. For the whole of 2018, about 3,000 kilograms were imported, which is more than double the figures for 2017 - 1,200 kilograms.

Considering the fact that several varieties of technical hemp with a therapeutic effect are registered on the territory of Ukraine with a huge therapeutic effect, the question arises - why do Ukrainian patients get an opinion that it is necessary to pay a lot of money for a deliberately worse product if the country has a mechanism for legal cultivation of technical hemp, which has tremendous therapeutic properties. The cost of raw materials thus obtained is several orders of magnitude cheaper than flowers with similar characteristics grown in greenhouses / rooms using lamps, ventilation, security systems, etc.