As of: February 25, 2024, 5:05 a.m
By: Andreas Schmid
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Anyone who wants to purchase legal cannabis in clubs still has to be patient.
And well beyond the actual start date of July 1st.
The federal government passed the cannabis law on Friday.
Consumption should be legal on April 1st;
Cannabis will be removed from the list of prohibited substances in the Narcotics Act.
Home cultivation should also be permitted from April.
However, the cannabis clubs still have to wait.
According to the federal government, non-commercial cultivation in clubs will be permitted from July 1st.
This means: The so-called “Cannabis Social Clubs” are allowed to sell grass to members, but are not allowed to make any profit from it.
A club may have a maximum of 500 members.
However, it is questionable whether cannabis distribution can start directly from July 1st.
“That depends very much on how the local authorities work,” says Steffen Geyer, chairman of the umbrella organization of German Cannabis Social Clubs (CSC), in an interview with
IPPEN.MEDIA.
Cannabis clubs: Legal CSC weed only months later
The background is the approval of the application process by the authorities.
We are already in good contact with the authorities in Berlin, but things are completely different in Bavaria.
“In Munich, for example, it will probably be the case that the authorities won’t do any work until July 1st and then won’t do anything for another three months,” said Geyer.
“As agreed in the law, the authorities have three months to examine a club’s application for approval.
Only then can a lawsuit be filed.” The Free State will make full use of this deadline.
“That’s why I assume that we won’t see any legal CSC grass in Bavaria this year.”
In addition, a hemp plant needs time before it can be harvested.
“The grass needs two to three months to grow.” Conversely, this also means: If everything goes smoothly with the approval at a club, legal cannabis can probably not be passed on to members until autumn 2024 at the earliest.
Provided the clubs stick to the rules.
“If a CSC operator wants to be as quick as possible, from July 1st he will use the plants that are already growing illegally,” says Geyer.
“They are legal if they are in a cannabis club that has a permit.” Geyer speaks of gray areas that, as head of the umbrella organization, he does not recommend to his members.
Also to avoid making yourself vulnerable.
“Especially in southern Germany, we expect a very high density of controls.”
Weed in cannabis clubs: “That would counteract the basic idea of legalization”
The cannabis industry even expects growing times to be longer than Geyer.
Philip Schetter, managing director of the Berlin-based cannabis company Cantourage, told our editorial team: “Growing really good cannabis can easily take between six and nine months, especially if you start it in a new environment.” The timeline means: “If “If the clubs start their first cultivation in July 2024, cannabis will probably not be available for distribution in clubs until the end of 2024 at the earliest, and more likely the beginning of 2025.”
Conversely, this also means that clubs that already sell cannabis in the summer “almost certainly obtained it through non-regulated channels,” says Schetter.
“This would counteract the basic idea of legalization, which is why special attention is required here.”
Frankfurt cannabis entrepreneur Niklas Kouparanis, managing director of the Bloomwell Group, shares this view.
“We cannot expect that the clubs will immediately start cultivating and distributing cannabis as soon as the law comes into force and that the clubs will significantly reduce the illegal market in the foreseeable future.” Nevertheless, the cannabis law is “a step in the right direction.”
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