Germany launched legal medical cannabis product sales through pharmacies in 2017. Since that time, Germany has become the largest regulated medical cannabis market in Europe, as demonstrated by recent medical cannabis import data published by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).
According to BfArM, Germany imported 43.257 tonnes of medical cannabis products in Q2 2025, which, when combined with the 37.519 tonnes imported in Q1 2025, totals 80.776 tonnes in the first half of 2025. Below is a graph of import totals for 2024 and the first half of 2025 from BfArM:
As you can see from the data listed above, the entire total of medical cannabis product imports to Germany in 2024 was 72.85 tonnes, which was an impressive amount in itself, but has already been eclipsed in just the first half of this year. Below is a breakdown of where imported medical cannabis products to Germany originates (per BfArM):
The increased demand for medical cannabis imports in Germany is largely due to the rise of telemedicine services in the European country. As part of his presentation at the International Cannabis Business Conference in Berlin, Germany in April 2025, leading international cannabis economist Beau Whitney, founder of Whitney Economics, estimated that Germany is home to between 700k and 900k medical cannabis patients.
Germany legalized cannabis for adult-use in April 2024. If history from other parts of the world is a guide, the number of patients relying on Germany’s medical cannabis program could lower as time goes by, with some amount of patients choosing to acquire cannabis through approved adult-use channels since it often requires less effort compared to medical cannabis channels. Only time will tell if that proves to be the case in Germany.