European 420 this year is an interesting time on the cannabis front. While there is much to celebrate because reform here is on the march, it is also clear that there is still a long road ahead, almost everywhere, before full and final cannabis reform is the law of any land, much less region. Even on the medical front, patients are still struggling to get access, even in Germany. In other places, the situation is much worse. However, there are some bright spots—and it is clear that legalization is now in process, no matter how slowly.

Here is a brief overview of where the most influential countries stand on the issue—and the challenges yet ahead.

Switzerland

The non-EU country in the middle of Europe is absolutely leading the pack on implementing a federal recreational cannabis trial. Recreational users will be allowed to purchase high THC cannabis at pharmacies. The first orders are now being dispatched to apothekes all over the country. While the trial will be conducted on a canton-by-canton basis (the Swiss equivalent of states), its impact will be felt across Europe. It is very likely that Germany will adopt a plan that is similar to the Swiss. There will also be some form of the “cannabis club” that will take root here. Definitely the leader of the European pack.

Germany

The country will certainly be in a position to drive recreational reform when the new government gets around to it (as it has promised to do). However, on the ground right now, as the Traffic Light Coalition downplays the urgency of at least formal decriminalization, things are still pretty dire. Over 200 businesses in the hemp business are facing criminal prosecution. There are also close to 200,000 criminal cases pending against individuals. There is a reason that the Hanf Parade in Berlin is being organized this year, not to mention similar protests across the country. Perhaps there will be something to celebrate on this front as of April next year. 

Holland

The country is now in the process of creating a national system for the cultivation and distribution of cannabis, although on the slow track (it has been repeatedly delayed and is expected to take effect in 2023). In the meantime, the mayor of Amsterdam is still pushing ahead with her unpopular plan to close down as many as two-thirds of the city’s coffeeshops and ban cannatourists from the remaining ones.

U.K.

The country has formalized its CBD market recently, and this is a big step in a world where people can still get busted for even CBD flower. However, medical reform is still a far-off dream, as is recreational reform. There is another national medical trial now in the offing for chronic pain, but again, this will be highly limited.

Luxembourg

Despite a pending promise to create a recreational market by the beginning of 2023, plans have largely stalled here, in part thanks to COVID as well as the continuing anti-cannabis voices at a regional level. This is not to say that some kind of cannabis market will not be in the offing next year, but don’t hold your breath that this is going to be particularly impactful on the overall debate. 

Portugal

Portugal currently is one of the largest feeder markets for German medical cannabis—either grown domestically or as a passthrough product. Beyond this, the country’s last government promised recreational cannabis reform, but such promises have been decidedly muted since the new government took power earlier this year.

Greece

The country’s political leaders are angling to obtain as much foreign investment as possible, and of course, the cannabis industry represents all sorts of possibilities. As of this month, the Greek government finally announced that Greek patients can obtain cannabis from local pharmacies and tourists will be allowed to purchase it from such establishments as long as they have a doctor’s prescription. The country is absolutely on track to create a strong medical cannabis tourist sector—especially as this represents another form of foreign income.

Malta

The country beat Luxembourg to the punch on announcing that it had indeed legalized the first recreational market in Europe. However, Malta is an island, far away from mainland Europe, and while this is a great first step, there are clearly other countries who will move the needle a bit more. Users are allowed to carry up to seven grams and store up to 50 grams at home. People can also grow at home and will eventually be able to organize nonprofits to distribute the plant via cannabis associations.

Spain

The country is in an interesting place right now. Cannabis clubs are more or less tolerated, but there still has been no federal reform. Things are clearly sticky here still on all fronts, however, as the local police have just proved. They moved in on a farmer drying over $100 million in hemp flowers bound for other European countries and destroyed the crop, citing Spanish law on the extraction of CBD. 

Italy

In Italy, the situation is in an interesting place. Small amounts of cannabis are essentially decriminalized. Recent court cases have established the legality of cultivating for personal use when patients are severely ill. Beyond this, cannabis for medical use is legal although patients are running into the same issues as Germans when it comes to insurance reimbursement, which is one of the reasons that there is still a large push for reform. The cultivation of hemp with under 0.2% THC is also legal. The legalization effort was set back recently, however, when the high court overturned the right of its citizens to hold a national referendum on full legalization.

Denmark

The country is currently in the middle of a four-year medical trial, begun in 2018 and ending this year. Cannabis exports are also beginning to show up in other European countries for medical use. There has been a discussion about allowing a recreational trial, but nothing is crystallized yet.

France

It is highly unlikely that the next four years will see any major movement on the recreational front legislatively, even if the current president, Emmanuel Macron wins a second term in office. The country is in the second year of a highly limited medical trial. The best that can happen here is that the medical program will be expanded. If Macron’s challenger, Marine Le Pen, wins the election, expect France to be on one of the slowest boats forward, as she has suggested reigniting the Drug War. That said, as Europe’s largest hemp producer and the place where the KanaVape case was launched and won (allowing cross border CBD sales), it could be that reform here comes on the CBD front first, and further, via legal challenge.

Et cetera

There are several other European countries who are advancing albeit slowly. Poland’s highest court just overruled the main public health agency, the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, in allowing hemp flowers as food. The Czech Republic continues to power forward on both the CBD and medical cannabis front. North Macedonia, although not in the EU, continues to try to enter the European market, even exporting cannabis oil through other Eastern European countries, starting with Poland. 

Austria is also in an interesting place right now, although not much has moved in the last several years. Possession has been decriminalized and the sale of seeds and plants is legal. However, the country seems to be in a holding pattern before taking the next steps. It is highly likely however that it will follow Switzerland and Germany’s lead as it shares a trading alliance with them. 

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Meghan Markle might want to trademark the word “archetype” for her own enrichment, but it just goes to show how universal some fights actually are. Not to mention how unoriginal the continual threats to one of the most enduring if not endearing symbols of Amsterdam continue to be.

The latest salvo against the city’s coffeeshops comes (yet again) from the city’s mayor, Femke Halsema, who has just unveiled her latest plan to ban tourists from the city’s cannabis cafes, and further with a well-worn excuse. Namely, to “get a grip” on the local soft drugs market, and the outdated rant that cannabis is a gateway drug to other, harder drugs.

It is a broken record—but sadly, one she insists on pursuing to the bitter end.

Here is her reasoning: According to some city officials at least, “only” 66 of the current 166 licensed shops are “needed” to meet local demand—meaning that she really wants to close down 100 (or about 2/3) of them. Further, according to Halsema, banning cannatourists in Amsterdam is the “best way” to manage the country’s pending cannabis cultivation trial (which of course excludes coffee shops in Amsterdam and other large Dutch cities)—rather than trying to integrate them into it—which is also inevitable.

However, the move is hardly surprising. Amsterdam’s officials have long tried to shut down the cannatrade against evidence that this unique aspect of Holland’s culture has not only become an enduring international symbol of the cannabis industry and reform but are beginning to be widely copied everywhere prohibition is finally receding. Apparently, these officials do not think that the attraction, which draws about 58% of tourists to the city, is one they want to continue to associate with Amsterdam. About 3 million tourists visit the city annually, specifically to partake in this unique experience.

Of course, both the industry and evidence say otherwise. Indeed, in smaller towns in Holland where coffeeshops are limited to local residents, there has been a resurgence in street dealing.

Beyond this, both of the largest parties represented on the city council, D66 and Groenlinks are opposed to the initiative, which was announced after the March local elections.

Regardless, Halsema does not need to rely on majority support if she declares the situation to be a “necessity.” She has also been on this particular bandwagon for at least the last two years.

So much for democracy, not to mention governing for and with the will of the people.

Amsterdam Prohibition Rears its Head as Progress Threatens the Status Quo

This is not the first attempt to limit the coffeeshop trade or even ban tourists from the same, much less from Halsema who has been trying to achieve this goal for the last couple of years. She has also used various excuses that more or less sound the same—including using the COVID pandemic to temporarily shut down all of shops—although also being forced to allow takeout service as the lockdown endured for the last several years.

Part of the problem, no matter how popular such destinations are with foreign visitors—particularly British and Germans—is that tourism constitutes only about 10% of the overall economy of the city. According to Halsema, “Amsterdam is in a lucky position where it could really use the pandemic to try some new things.”

Apparently, integrating the city’s coffeeshops into the national cultivation trial is not one of those ideas. Indeed, it is only being used as another excuse to shut down said establishments.

Why Now?

As much as this effort is clearly timed for publicity, it is yet another sign of how tone-deaf, if not enduringly anti-cannabis, elected officials can be to the advances of the industry, if not deliberately ignorant about the drug and the impact of its usage. 

There is zero evidence that cannabis use leads to harder drugs. Indeed there is more and more data proving that in fact it is a gateway off of them—starting with opioids.

Beyond this, of course, it is also clear in any jurisdiction which has proceeded with at least a semi-legitimized cannabis trade that banning parts of it do not stop demand—but rather drive it further into the black market.

That said, such regressive statements, attitudes, and outdated campaigns, are here to stay for some time in Europe as multiple countries wrestle now with how to integrate cannabis into the mainstream. See Germany, right next door, where the new national government, which used recreational cannabis reform as an election plank, has clearly pushed such a move to the backburner in the face of more compelling priorities.

The jury of course, is still out on whether the mayor and the “Dark Side” will win this salvo. No matter what Halsema and others of her ilk may want, or even wish to impose, it is unlikely that tourists will be effectively banned from such establishments—starting with the fact that in Barcelona, this has also proved to be impossible. 

It is also unlikely that Halsema will win in the long term. Some coffeeshops may close. However, those that survive, just as those which endured the previous purges, will only emerge stronger and more popular than before.

And that is an archetype that even Jung would approve of.

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A new survey studying the consumption habits of participants in the European Union (EU) reveal that cannabis use has increased, and the use of ecstasy has decreased considerably.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) recently found that cannabis and ecstasy saw the strongest changes in consumption habits. The European Web Survey on Drugs was conducted online between March and April 2021 with the intention of illuminating patterns of drug use to consider in future regulation. Throughout 21 EU countries and nine non-EU countries, the survey recorded answers from those who were 18 or older and had used drugs.

The survey results, published on January 20, recorded the drug use breakdown of the 48,469 participants. “Cannabis was the drug used most, with 93 percent of survey respondents reporting to have used it in the previous 12 months and with little variation between countries,” the survey results state. “MDMA/ecstasy (35 percent), cocaine (35 percent) and amphetamine (28 percent) were the next most reported illicit substances, with the order of the three drugs varying by country. Around a third of respondents (32 percent) reported using more (herbal) cannabis and 42 percent using less MDMA/ecstasy.” The results also show that a group of participants had used LSD (20 percent), a new psychoactive substance (16 percent), ketamine (13 percent) and heroin (three percent).

Furthermore, participants from the Western Balkans (which is made up of a Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo) also echoed the high consumption of cannabis, and decreased use in other substances—especially ecstasy. “Most respondents (91 percent) reported using cannabis in the previous 12 months, followed by cocaine (38 percent), MDMA/ecstasy (22 percent) and amphetamine (20 percent). Again, around a third of respondents (32 percent) reported using more (herbal) cannabis and 34 percent using less MDMA/ecstasy.”

In terms of where these substances were consumed, 85 percent of participants in the EU and 72 percent of the Western Balkans used these substances at home, rather than at public venues. It also takes into account that the motivation for cannabis use at home was because of a multitude of reasons. Participants wanted to relax, get high in order to improve sleep, but their use of MDMA or ecstasy was used to attain “euphoric and socialising [sic] effects.”

The study result breakdown states that the information shared by the 50,000 people included in the survey is just a small portion of the EU, but still offers a useful glimpse into the changing habits of residents. “While web surveys are not representative of the general population, when carefully conducted and combined with traditional data-collection methods, they can help paint a more detailed, realistic and timely picture of drug use and drug markets in Europe. Over 100 organisations [sic] took part in the initiative, including the Reitox national focal points, universities and NGOs.”

EMCDDA Director Alexis Goosdeel shared a statement regarding the goal of this survey, and the amount of participation needed from organizations to sort and analyze the data. “Web surveys are a key ingredient in our monitoring of Europe’s shifting drugs problem,” Goosdeel said. “They help us reach an important target population through innovative online methods. Today’s results reveal the wide variety of drugs available across Europe and provide valuable information on emerging trends and changing patterns of use during the COVID-19 pandemic. An impressive 100 organisations [sic] joined us this time in building, translating and disseminating the survey, ensuring that this is now an invaluable tool to help tailor our responses and shape future drug policies.”

Other studies in the U.S. have shed light on other topics related to cannabis, such as targeting teens with ads on social media or an updated Gallup survey that shows that a majority of Americans support legalization.

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As with many things in the cannabis revolution, there are moments when achieved reform or market creation feels bittersweet. Certainly, most within this industry, having attained a hard fought and well-deserved, even litigated, or legislative victory have also had the experience of realizing that such a development is both a step forward but also two back. 

Thus is the case in France right now.

On one hand, the order by the French Ministry of Solidarity and Health, issued on December 30, 2021, implementing Article R.5132-86 of the Public Health Code is a victory for the industry. In direct response to the KanaVape case, where the European Court of Justice decreed that imported CBD sold in France (and produced elsewhere in the European Union (EU)) was legal and by extension that the cannabinoid was not a narcotic, the French government has essentially enshrined an EU decision into French law.

Namely, that CBD can be sold and further that it is clearly not a narcotic.

However, it is what forms that cannabis could be available to consumers that are creating consternation if not a direct rebellion from some in the industry.

The Basics

Here is what the new order does. It legalizes the CBD industry and products. Here is the bad news. It specifically bans the retail sale of cannabis flower. This includes the smokable and tea varieties.

The positives? This development means that the purveyors of any CBD containing product that has been certified in the required regulatory pathways are finally in a position where there is a legal market for their products. 

No French police raids on grocery stores for CBD cookies loom in the horizon as a result. 

Merci beaucoup.

On the other hand, here is the merde a la mode.

The order is devastating to hemp producers and small stores who sell flower and products that contain the same (like hemp tea). While the legal limit for THC in hemp was also raised (from 0.02 percent to 0.03 percent), this means that cultivators must rely only on B2B sales to those who will further transform (usually extract) the CBD for use in other products (from cosmetics to food).

The new order also does not move CBD out of the Novel Food category. This could also be a ripe territory for legal challenges, particularly for CBD cultivated in France itself. However, given the blow just directed in the direction of the French cultivation industry, a by-product of this decision could very well move cultivation of even hemp outside the country’s borders.

A Whimper Rather than a Bang

The bottom line is that this development is hardly a French Revolution on CBD. Further it may well be a cynical move by French President Emmanuel Macron, who as of January 1 took over the next six month tenure as the President of the EU on his way to facing national voters in the near future. Namely, inch a conversation which is much despised at the nosebleed level of European politics only as far forward as absolutely necessary.

Indeed, this kind of unfortunate mindset is still much in keeping with the general attitude about cannabis cultivation, even of the medical kind, in Europe. Politicians in Germany were so opposed to legalizing home grow that they banned even registered German pharmaceutical firms from participating in the country’s first cultivation bid for the regulated pharmaceutical market. Beyond that, there are still many questions still open on the hemp side of the conversation.

It is trickle down reform and of course, as a result, will be fought, again, in court.

The Industry Strikes Back?

On January 3, industry groups including the hemp union and the trade association of CBD sellers, the Union des Professionals du CBD, for whom flower sales can represent as much as 80 percent of their business, issued a challenge to the new order. They are asking the government to suspend the same because at an EU level, there is no distinction between flower and extract. The application was submitted to the highest administrative court in France—the Council of State. It has so far not been rejected (meaning that the court could side with the industry).

Indeed, many on the ground feel that this is just another way of setting back the industry if not reform itself—and further apparently fairly similarly at the nosebleed level of European politics. For example, the discussion about the sales of both flower and CBD containing products has also been contentious in places like Germany (which has seen both police and court action against firms selling either or). In the UK, the sale of the same is explicitly banned. 

Yet this is not the trend in Europe. In most places, although not explicitly stated as such as in Belgium and Luxembourg, CBD flower is more or less treated like tobacco. In both Malta and Italy, home grow is also now explicitly allowed—even if just of the hemp variety. Indeed, that is one of the more intriguing aspects still outstanding of the KanaVape case (namely that the imported extract at the centre of all the hullabaloo was for inhalation). 

Obviously, since 2017 in Germany, there are very clearly medical flower sales that are smoked by patients and nobody is talking (yet) about removing flower from the high THC, adult-use market, coming hopefully now sooner than later aus Deutschland. There is also no guarantee that those patients now participating in French trials are only consuming their dispensed flower by approved medical vape.

Regardless, no matter the hypocrisies and inconsistencies, on both the smoking argument, and of course the perennial pushback from the police (on issues from not being able to tell the difference on the street, to driving issues), these are the issues much in the room across the European discussion right now. This newest development in France is no exception.

Further, the underlying assumption being made about even CBD flower is also highly significant. Not only does it rule out the opportunity of consumers and patients to make their own products using extraction methods, but it also continues to categorize all cannabis flowers in a highly harmful category.

This is concerning for two reasons. The first, obviously, is that this is potentially a major blow to the hemp industry in France, an industry with about $180 million in sales last year. More worryingly, it may also have an impact far beyond French borders. European countries are looking to each other to figure out a pathway to legalization that can be both accepted and implemented given the current state of international regulations on cannabis. Namely the still unchanged classification of cannabis and cannabinoids by the UN as a Schedule I drug.

Indeed, the many wrinkles in the path towards even CBD legalization seen in France, among other EU countries, are just a small precursor to the now looming fight over THC.

It is for all these reasons that the hemp industry at both the French and increasingly European level is watching this case actively, if not preparing strategies on how to fight back not only on the ground in France, but use similar tactics unleashed locally in every sovereign nation in Europe.

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As the world contemplates a whole new year, whether or not COVID will finally recede, there are a few things to cheer about, including cannabis reform. Namely, no matter how many uncertainties face us all, as grey January stretches beyond the holiday lights, there is certainly cheer in the air that will last much longer than the season.

Indeed, there are plenty in Germany right now who are already making plans for infused Weihnacht treats just a few years hence. It is now clear that cannabis will take its place quickly in German traditions, Christmas being just one of them. Canna-Glüwein (hot, mulled wine), anyone?

Beyond this, the rest of the EU now teetering on the edge on this issue, has now woken up to the reality that no matter what they decide to do (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta and, of course, the current laggard, France), now that Germany has just uttered the declaration that is the beginning of the end. If not an inevitable form of economic development and tax money in a world starved of the same.

Cannabis has turned a major corner in Europe in 2021. Here are the major hallmarks of the year.

Red, Amber, Green, Go Deutschland!

Germany’s new “Traffic Light” political coalition has promised to address the issue of recreational reform legislatively in 2022. Unlike the U.S. where multiple attempts to pass federal cannabis reform have failed, this is likely to happen. 

In the initial rollout of reform, however, do not be surprised if the Germans decide to follow the Swiss and allow regular pharmacies to be the first port of call for both medical and recreational users. It would solve several issues at once—starting with the establishment of tight restrictions on cultivation and retail supply chain. 

A short term, interim solution such as this will knock out a far more contentious issue—how to structure a licensing system for everything from cultivation in the country (and by whom) to specialty shops that resemble American or Canadian “dispensaries.” Namely not medical establishments. Plus, online sales.

This is for both Germany and cannabis reform, expect there to be several iterations of reform, starting with state and city experiments that will inevitably see Berlin, Bremen, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, Cologne and Munich on the front lines (because such ideas have been avidly pushed on a municipal level before).  

Also, don’t forget that it basically took four years after the law changed and two after the cultivation bid was finally awarded, for there to be distribution of German cultivated medical cannabis. Don’t expect the details of recreational to be handled or hammered out much more quickly. See Canada.

In the meantime, however, full decrim will become the law of the land, and patients will be free of prosecution, both for possession and presumably (hopefully) reasonable home growing. Despite the reluctance to actually have cannabis cultivated in the country, either by patients or companies (see the drama over the first cultivation bid), this is not 2017. Germans, albeit grudgingly, now admit that the drug does work, as a drug, even if they are not yet of one voice in the majority that cannabis prohibition has of course, failed.

Regardless, German recreational, just as medical reform was before it, is a huge, huge step which will drive other countries across the region forward too.

Malta and Luxembourg will Lead the Way

It is a sign of how convoluted the Dutch situation is, if not national position, generally, that the island of Malta led the way on actual, formal, federal, recreational cannabis reform within the European Union (EU). Indeed, if there are analogies to be made, Holland is kind of like the European California—creating a market that exists in the grey areas but is only now facing a discussion (and further one far from complete) about how to federally regulate the industry.

Luxembourg also, it appears, was just hanging back until another country took the leap, despite promising the same in 2018 as a new coalition government took the reins there. Now there is no excuse for any more delays.

Portugal will also inevitably now enact reform as soon as the smoke from the general election early next year clears—and no matter who wins. The country needs an economic boost—either from tourism or exports, and this is a natural solution.

Beyond this, Spain may well follow a Dutch model to formalize production for its clubs rather than coffee shops in the next 12 to 24 months.

Also expect to see Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Greece and potentially outliers like Belgium begin to move with the herd, even if in the creation of experimental markets. This may or may not start to happen next year, but it will most certainly catch on within the next 24 months.

The Swiss Wild Card

Do not forget, of course, that the Swiss began preparing for a recreational trial rollout that now has a calendar date set for actual lift off in 2022. Companies have been submitting and obtaining approvals for the last eight months or so.

The beginning of this market, with its own strange requirements and rules, will also inevitably drive discussions and the shape of reform just across the DACH if not other EU borders the country shares with other countries. Everyone will be watching what goes down in Der Schweitz—including the unique waiving and blending of certain kinds of certifications—including but not limited to Novel Food and GMP.

Other Notables (or Not)

Try as they might to get some respect, the British cannabis industry, such as it is, has weathered difficult times, and these do not seem at least for now, to be ending any time soon. 

In contrast to the British on both European membership and cannabis reform, North Macedonia will inevitably play a role in the immediate future, even if just as a source of cheaper flower and oil extracts.

Poland is also still teetering on the brink of actual if not accessible medical reform, but expect this now also to speed up.

The Growth of Import Markets Serving Europe

The year 2021 was notable for another reason. Feeder markets will target EU if not Germany at their founder’s mandate, continued to grow. This means that no matter what happens with future cultivation discussions, in any country, starting with Germany, there will be no shortage of other certified cannabis from countries all over the globe at this point, looking for a German home. 

For this reason, there will be significant downward pressure on both the medical and “other” flower and biomass discussions.

Bottom Line On 2021?

If there is an analogy to be made, the situation in Europe now on the ground looks a great deal like the conversation in the U.S. in 2012, post presidential election that returned Obama to his second term in office. Namely, two states, Colorado and Washington State, voted on state mandates to create state markets. They both bloomed in 2014—and the rest, as they say, is history.

The developments this year in Europe, and even some of the stuttering delays, no matter their cause or ultimate resolutions, resemble this period, in many ways. And that spells great news for the industry, on all fronts.

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In a sign that things are absolutely at a tipping point in Europe, the Mediterranean island of Malta became the first country in both Europe and the European Union (EU) to legalize recreational cannabis cultivation, possession and use. Luxembourg announced similar plans (and a similar model) about a month ago, but this will be (at least initially) limited to the public sale of seeds. 

While the bill still needs to be signed by the President, this is a small detail. In the words of the lawmaker who introduced the legislation into the Maltese Parliament, Owen Bonnici, this is in fact a “ground-breaking” moment. It also marks the first time a European legislative body has enacted recreational cannabis reform at a federal level. 

Despite a greater federal involvement in the regulation of the industry in Holland, even the Dutch have not gone this far. Switzerland is not in the EU.  Portugal and Germany are poised to move forward but have not yet. Luxembourg has come out of the shadows, but only to create a public seed market (for the time being).

Indeed, given the timing of such announcements, it is very likely that the Luxembourgian market and the Maltese one will develop along very similar timelines if not industry constructs.

The only difference of course is that in Malta, there is no grey area left. Cannabis specific outlets will be allowed to operate—albeit at a suitable distance from schools and youth centers.

Beyond this, consumers will be able to carry seven grams in public, grow up to four plants and keep up to 50 grams of cannabis at home.

The Birth of the European Recreational Cannabis Market

This development was only a matter of time. In the past months, recreational cannabis reform has been on the top of the docket all over Europe—even if not moving quite so quickly as in Malta. Most significantly, the new coalition government in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, has announced plans to legalize recreational use as early as next year. 

Luxembourg and Switzerland are both moving forward with limited trials. Portugal is also very likely to follow suit. Italy is also hovering around the edge of this question, with over half a million signatures gathered this summer to force the issue forward at the legislative level.

If there was a parallel, this is now a time very much like 2012 in the United States. Reform is now formally being accepted at a legislative level (although here it is at a sovereign rather than at the state level). In two years, there could be as many as five or six recreational reform states up and running.

What Does this Mean for the Industry?

Now is a very good time for American investors, in particular, to begin staking out a presence here. While flower and product cannot cross the Atlantic (at least not easily and without a few detours), investments can. The British are also circling. While reform has not (and probably will not come) as fast as it has on the continent, the equity markets in London are already a go-to place for those on the hunt for investment.

What has begun as a trickle this year is likely to become a veritable flood within the next six to 12 months.

German firms, particularly those who have managed to get into the medical space with an operational distribution license, have a clear advantage at the moment, across the region, simply because of the benefit of an early organizational head start.

Change at the EU Level

While such developments are clearly exciting, don’t expect all of this to be smooth sailing. There are still several big impediments that remain before the industry can operate more normally. While individual countries will begin to move in the recreational direction, the topic still needs to be addressed at a regional level. So far, the only place this has happened is with CBD (which still has not been adopted by many countries).

This will be an issue in (at least) the cross-border trade of cannabis—and for that reason, EU GMP is likely to play a much larger role, at least at first. German pharmaceutical specialty distributors will also have a clear advantage in the coming market—and not just in one country, but across the region.

Regardless, real cannabis change is finally coming. It just happened in Malta first.

And while it may still not make it into the top 10 most significant events in Maltese history, this development is certainly a marker of great change—and further, not limited to just this one, small European island.

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