Medical hashish has been a boon for the Berlin-based firm whose web site slogan says ‘we love hashish’ and whose Frankfurt Inventory Change ticker image is ‘HIGH’
At an undisclosed web site in Germany’s Bavaria state, pharmaceutical CEO Philip Schetter opens a 75-centimeter (30-inch) thick metal door that secures his wares: huge quantities of hashish.
“Better safe than sorry,” he says throughout a go to to the compound run by Cantourage, a producer and distributor of cannabis-based medicinal merchandise.
Marijuana has been partially legalized in Germany, however the agency fears its wares from so far as Jamaica, Uganda and New Zealand may make it a gorgeous goal for criminals.
“We are committed to the highest safety standards—for our employees as well as for our products,” Schetter instructed AFP.
Inside the ability, employees carrying surgical robes, hairnets and face masks had been busy utilizing small scissors to chop up dried hashish flowers.
The brownish-green buds are used to alleviate continual ache and sleep issues, deal with sure types of epilepsy and provide assist for most cancers, HIV and palliative care sufferers.
Medical hashish has been a boon for the Berlin-based firm whose web site slogan says “we love cannabis” and whose Frankfurt Inventory Change ticker image is “HIGH”.
Final 12 months it booked income of 51.4 million euros, a 118% improve on 2023.
The corporate with 70 employees says it permits producers to enter the European medical hashish market by processing and distributing their dried flowers and extracts.
The brownish-green buds are used to alleviate continual ache and sleep issues, deal with sure types of epilepsy, and provide assist for most cancers, HIV and palliative care sufferers.
Rivals embody the Netherlands’ Bedrocan and Canada’s Aurora, which additionally grows hashish.
In Germany, the pungent inexperienced plant has been accessible with a prescription since 2017.
One advantage of laboratory-tested and authorized medical hashish is readability about its origin, processing path and energetic ingredient content material, mentioned Schetter.
“If I went to the black market, the choice would be rather limited and I would be given anything, without knowing what it contains,” he mentioned. “And often the product is contaminated. You may even doubt that it is cannabis.”
‘Frosted Cookies’
Cantourage markets its medicines in eye-catching methods, naming them after their hashish strains.
Amongst its merchandise are “Frosted Cookies”, “Lemon Berry Candy” and “Chemdawg”, full with colourful stickers that assist construct model loyalty even when they don’t seem on the packaging.
Philip Schetter, CEO of Cantourage, reveals the storage room of the uncooked hashish crops on the firm’s manufacturing web site in an undisclosed location in Bavaria.
“Classical pharma firms do classical pharma marketing,” Schetter mentioned. “We’re just young and creative,” he added, noting that the boundaries between leisure and medicinal medication are generally “blurred”.
“You can argue about when a product is recreational and when it is medicinal,” he mentioned. “Cannabis helps in the treatment of certain symptoms.”
Most European nations have legalized medicinal hashish in some type, however Germany has extra liberal guidelines than most.
The previous center-left authorities final 12 months made it simpler to get hashish on prescription. It additionally legalized possession of as much as 25 grams for private, non-medical use and allowed households to develop as much as three marijuana crops.
“The change in the law meant lots of people became aware for the first time that you can get cannabis from the chemist without being gravely ill,” Schetter mentioned. “That led to a surge in demand.”
Pharmacies stuffed over 1,000% extra hashish prescriptions in December 2024 than they did the earlier March, earlier than the regulation was loosened, in keeping with Bloomwell, a web-based platform that places sufferers in contact with medical doctors for hashish therapy.
Philip Schetter, CEO of Cantourage, reveals a pattern of hashish flowers from the corporate’s manufacturing.
‘Disgrace for nation’
The authorized change didn’t put everybody in excessive spirits, least of all Germany’s conservative new Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who through the election marketing campaign demanded the legalization be reversed.
His ally, Bavarian premier Markus Soeder, final 12 months charged that the loosening of the regulation was a “shame for the country” and vowed his state would apply the regulation “as strictly as possible”.
Since Merz agreed to share energy with the center-left Social Democrats, his coalition authorities has taken a softer line, pledging solely an “open-ended evaluation” of the difficulty.
Schetter mentioned he was relaxed concerning the pending assessment, telling AFP that “we’re curious to see what comes out of this”.
He acknowledged that “regulatory risk does come up as a topic from time to time” in his talks with buyers.
Workers present a specialised system for processing the uncooked hashish flowers.
Marijuana followers celebrated final 12 months in Berlin a authorized change permitting adults to hold as much as 25 grams of dried hashish and develop as much as three marijuana crops at dwelling.
Germany’s conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz through the election marketing campaign demanded the legalisation be reversed.
However even a reversal of the most recent change to the regulation ought to go away Cantourage’s enterprise mannequin intact, Schetter mentioned.
“We are a pharmaceutical company. We make medicines and deliver them to chemists.”
He even dared to dream that the assessment may go the opposite manner, which means “further steps will be taken to turn partial legalization into full legalization”.
© 2025 AFP
Quotation:
Excessive occasions for German hashish agency amid medical growth (2025, Might 18)
retrieved 18 Might 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-05-high-german-cannabis-firm-medical.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Aside from any truthful dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
