On the second anniversary of Germany’s landmark Cannabis Act (CanG) coming into force, the most comprehensive data and analysis of its impact to date has been published.
Last week, the government published the results of the second Ekocan (Evaluation des Konsumcannabisgesetzes) evaluation, providing vital new details to an increasingly robust picture of the ambitious cannabis project.
Since its implementation in 2024, Germany’s medical cannabis market has experienced rapid, unmitigated levels of growth, with Prohibition Partners revealing in its latest Global Medical Cannabis Market Review 2026 that the market more than doubled in size last year.
It arrives at a critical juncture. Germany’s coalition government is midway through a contentious set of proposed amendments to the Medical Cannabis Act (MedCanG), justified in a large part by allegations that the framework is being ‘abused’ for recreational purposes, and encouraging the spread of cannabis use throughout Germany.
While the initial Ekocan report and subsequent independent analysis directly contradict this assessment, the latest findings identify structural gaps in the reform’s implementation, but strengthen the case that the reform has not driven the increase in consumption or harm that underpins the government’s proposed restrictions.
Finn Hänsel, founder and CEO of Sanity Group, said in a statement to the press: “Two years after the Cannabis Act took effect, one thing is obvious: the reform deserves a serious, scientifically based evaluation, not a rushed political change of course.
“As agreed in the coalition agreement, we should wait for the full evaluation to be completed before drawing far-reaching conclusions or imposing new restrictions.”
What the first report found
When Ekocan published its first interim report in September 2025, the headline findings were broadly reassuring for its advocates.
Cannabis consumption had not surged following legalisation, youth use was declining, and the fall in recorded cannabis offences, the most significant decriminalisation in the history of the Federal Republic, reflected a genuine shift in the legal landscape rather than a change in underlying behaviour.
The black market persisted, but early signs pointed to a gradual shift toward legal sources. The first report was explicit that it was too early for definitive conclusions, and that robust inferential analysis would follow later in the project.
What the second report finds
The second interim report of the Ekocan consortium, a multi-institutional research programme mandated to evaluate CanG’s social impacts, was published on 1 April 2026, running to 222 pages and drawing on a wider evidence base than anything published previously.
The legal supply picture has continued to develop. Up to 200 tonnes of medicinal cannabis were available in Germany in 2025, combining imports with 2.6 tonnes of domestic production.
Total demand for both medical and recreational cannabis was estimated at between 670 and 823 tonnes in the first report’s baseline year, with medical cannabis covering around 9% to 13% of that figure and cultivation associations accounting for less than 0.1%.
So-called ‘social supply’, informal, peer-to-peer sharing drawing on mixed legal and illegal origins, remains the most commonly cited source, at 35.2% of consumers in the second half of 2025.
Home cultivation has grown significantly. In the first half of 2024, 5.4% of surveyed consumers said they primarily grew their own cannabis. By the second half of 2025, that figure had risen to 21.4%.
The report is clear that this shift represents a genuine move toward legal sourcing, but equally clear that it was not the mechanism the legislature envisaged.
Cultivation associations, designed as the central pillar of black market displacement, have largely failed to fulfil that role. Only 366 had been approved as of October 2025, covering fewer than half of Germany’s counties.
The BvCW notes that the figure has since risen above 400, and is calling on the federal government to follow Ekocan’s recommendation to relax the regulatory framework governing clubs, including allowing them to publish neutral information online and reviewing the restrictions on cannabis sharing and consumption within association premises.
BvCW president Dirk Heitepriem said: “One of the core objectives of the Cannabis Act is the displacement of the black market and organised crime. But a key element is still absent: the scientific model projects for regulated cannabis dispensing. Let us work together with all relevant stakeholders to make a big leap forward.”
Prohibition Partner’s senior analyst, Alex Khourdaji, added: “It will be interesting to see how Germany develops, as the market’s adult-use potential is currently limited.
“The lack of pilot projects and the minimal number of cannabis associations have led many consumers to purchase through the medical route or continue to purchase via the illicit market, with a minority sustaining their use from home cultivation.
“As the Ekocan report finds that there has not been any surge in cannabis consumption behaviour, establishing pilot projects for legal access should be implemented, possibly through using already established medical channels, to further mitigate concerns of social harm and offer a safer route for recreational users.
Consumption and health
Ekocan’s own dedicated wastewater monitoring programme, AMoCan, tracked THC-COOH concentrations across 15 German cities before and after the reform, accumulating 3,239 measurements split either side of April 2024.
No significant short-term effect on consumption was detected, a finding that both confirms the stability conclusion from the first report and places it on a firmer evidential footing, given AMoCan was designed specifically to detect a reform-related signal.
Among adults, lifetime and recent use prevalence shows a slight increase consistent with the pre-existing trend, with no evidence of a post-legalisation surge.
Available data suggest that cannabis use prevalence among young people has remained stable or declined slightly. Risk perception has also largely remained stable, with young people somewhat more likely to perceive cannabis as risky since CanG came into effect.
Cannabis-related health incidents, emergency calls, and hospitalisations show no major increase to date.
Ekocan flags that the dominance of high-potency products in the legal market, particularly medical cannabis flowers with THC content above 10% or 15%, carries an elevated risk profile that existing clinical evidence does not adequately support. The report recommends that lawmakers consider capping the THC content of freely prescribable cannabis flowers.
The BvCW welcomes the consumption findings but frames them as a foundation for the next phase rather than a reason for complacency.
BvCW managing director Michael Greif notes: “The model projects for legal cannabis access would not only push back the illegal market, but also provide scientifically grounded data for future regulation. The Federal Office for Agriculture and Food must finally be given stronger legal powers to enable clean specialist shops with strict quality controls and reliable youth protection.”
Organised crime
The second report’s most substantive new section concerns cannabis-related organised crime, a topic specifically mandated for this interim report under the KCanG’s own evaluation requirements.
Black market activity has been partially curbed, with more consumers turning to legal or quasi-legal sources. Whether this has financially weakened organised criminal networks is not yet assessable, and there are early signs that organised crime is attempting to participate in the legal market rather than simply being displaced from it.
Officers interviewed by Ekocan report that the reform has reduced investigative pressure on cannabis-related organised crime. Cannabis possession no longer functions as a ‘door-opener’ for broader criminal investigations.
Undercover investigative methods have been restricted under the new legal framework. Surveyed officers were broadly negative about the KCanG’s effects on their ability to pursue organised crime networks, and Ekocan recommends that lawmakers consider strengthening law enforcement capability and reviewing the legal framework around undercover operations.
Cannabis offences are down sharply, and Ekocan confirmed in its first report that this constituted the most significant decriminalisation in the Federal Republic’s history, but according to the officers closest to the problem, the organised crime picture is not straightforwardly improving.
Medical cannabis
The report describes the thriving medical cannabis market as rapidly evolving, and notes that it cannot be cleanly separated from the recreational picture.
A legal assessment commissioned as part of the evaluation found that online platforms for medicinal cannabis are systematically violating pharmaceutical advertising regulations under Section 10 of the Heilmittelwerbegesetz, which prohibits advertising of prescription medicines.
Kathrin Konyen, the BvCW’s medical cannabis coordinator, argues that the issue requires a European rather than national solution: “Telemedicine is of the utmost importance in 2026 given the challenges facing the healthcare system. What is missing is clear regulation for the entire EU. National go-it-alone approaches and approaches focused on individual drug groups are not the right way.”
The BvCW is calling on the federal government to pursue an EU-wide framework for telemedicine platforms rather than cannabis-specific national legislation.
What EKOCAN recommends
The report closes with five legislative recommendations.
- Reform the cultivation association framework to make clubs genuinely accessible to all adult consumers, including relaxing restrictions on cannabis sharing and consumption within associations, permitting clubs to publish neutral information online, and establishing a nationwide whitelist of approved associations
- Improve coordination of early intervention programmes for young people under Section 7 KCanG, which has so far failed to meet the legislature’s expectations in closing the gap created by decriminalisation
- Increase funding for outpatient addiction counselling services and tailor provision to the needs of young adults, given declining uptake of services against a backdrop of rising consumption
- Strengthen law enforcement capability to pursue cannabis-related organised crime, and examine whether legal adjustments are required, particularly around undercover investigative measures, given the reduced investigative pressure on organised crime networks since the reform
- Address undesirable developments in the medical cannabis market by considering a cap on the THC content of freely prescribable cannabis flowers, and examine how to ensure effective enforcement of existing pharmaceutical advertising regulations against online platforms
The full evaluation runs to April 2028, and the authors are explicit that robust inferential analysis is not expected until later in the project. What is now available is considerably more detailed than six months ago, and it is the dataset against which the current MedCanG amendment debate deserves to be assessed.
This article was originally published by Business of Cannabis and is reprinted here with permission.
