European Cannabis Market

In the seventh edition of the European Cannabis Report – produced by London-based advisory group Prohibition Partners – Europe’s medical cannabis market is projected to be worth €354 million by the end of 2022 and to grow with a CAGR of 60% to reach €2.3 billion by 2026.

The market forecast expects to see a slow start over the review period with recreational cannabis only expected to come to the fore in 2022 following legalisation in the Netherlands and Switzerland whereas Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Germany and Malta are supposed to introduce legal access to adult-use cannabis, at least on a trial basis, by 2025.

The August 2020 update to BDSA’s global legal cannabis forecast shows almost $4 billion by 2025, while Brightfield Group forecasts over $3.1 billion with a 2020-2025 CAGR of 52%. New Frontier Data estimates the total value of cannabis demand in Europe is $42.9 billion.

Czech Republic Cannabis Market

Cannabis legalisation in the Czech Republic

Cannabis is banned for recreational use in the Czech Republic, but personal possession has been decriminalized since 2010, and medical cannabis has been legal since 2013.

Possession

Illegal (possession of up to 10g decriminalized, 30g for medical cannabis)

Sale

Sale of medical cannabis legal, otherwise sale illegal

Transport

Illegal (up to 15g decriminalized/medical subject to license legal)

Cultivation

Illegal (cultivation of up to 5 bushes decriminalized/cultivation for medical purposes subject to license legal)

Important details were specified in by-law No. 221/2013, which came into force in August 2013. This by-law sets the permitted amount of medical cannabis at 30 grams of dry matter per month. Furthermore, it enacts the prescription procedure of medical cannabis: only special electronic prescription is allowed for patients diagnosed with one of the few explicitly mentioned diseases and the prescription can only be issued by specific medical professionals (i.e. general practitioners cannot prescribe cannabis).

In early 2022, a comprehensive amendment to the Act on addictive substances came into effect. The major changes are that industrial cannabis plants can contain up to 1% of THC and anybody can apply for a license for growing medical cannabis.

Medical cannabis licensing

In the Czech Republic, a single company had the tender to grow medical cannabis which it supplies to the State Cannabis Agency (SAKL), similar to that of Bedrocan in the Netherlands. Throughout 2020, the company supplied 18 kilograms to SAKL, which was 27% of the amount consumed by patients, the remainder of demand was supplied through imports from abroad facilitated both by private companies and SAKL.

Sales of medical cannabis in the Czech Republic grew year-on-year by 63% in 2021. Official figures reveal that a total of 109 kg of medical cannabis was released to Czech patients last year compared to 67 kg in 2020. Further growth is expected over the next years amid a recent change in the law that could lower the price of medical cannabis as the country’s legal market opens up to growers.

Medical cannabis patients

The Czech Republic medical cannabis system treated approximately 4,600 patients in 2021. Only flower products are used for patient treatment, and the list of conditions approved for medical cannabis treatment is relatively limited. Patient numbers increased significantly from 2019 to 2021, partly due to the introduction of a reimbursement scheme, which drastically reduced the cost of medical cannabis to patients. The latest SAKL data shows that the number of registered doctors authorized to prescribe medical cannabis rose from 78 at the end of 2019 to 170 in 2020 and 191 in 2021.


Czech Republic Cannabis Market Infographics


Cannabis Cultivation Business Plan Sample, Czech Republic 

Czech Republic cannabis market

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