European Cannabis Market

In November 2020, United Nations voted to recognise the medical potential of cannabis by removing it from Category IV of the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and European Court of Justice ruled that CBD is not a narcotic under EU law, allowing for the commencement of application for marketing approval for CBD products on the continent.

Some form of medical cannabis (or cannabis-based medicine) is now legal in 22 countries in the region, with a further 11 countries decriminalising the recreational use of personal amounts of cannabis and 3 countries legalised cannabis for recreational use. In February 2024, Germany became the third country in Europe, after Malta and Luxembourg, to do so by removing cannabis and cannabis products from the official list of prohibited substances.

Reports prepared by London-based advisory group Prohibition Partners value the European legal cannabis market at €354 million in 2022 and €516 million in 2023. Total cannabis sales are forecast to grow with a CAGR of 45% to reach €2.1 billion by 2027.

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.

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).

The Czech Republic and Germany are the only European countries where public health insurance covers medical cannabis prescriptions.

Medical cannabis licensing

In the 2020, a single company had the tender to grow medical cannabis which it supplied to the State Cannabis Agency (SAKL). 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.

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. There are currently six companies licensed to produce medical cannabis in the Czech Republic.

Sales of medical cannabis in the Czech Republic grew at a CAGR of 113% from 2019 to 2023. Official figures reveal that a total of 109 kg of medical cannabis was released to Czech patients in 2021 compared to 67 kg in 2020. About 210 kilograms of medical cannabis products were prescribed in 2023, nearly double the amount in 2021, according to new data from the Czech Republic’s State Agency for Medicinal Cannabis.

Medical cannabis patients

The Czech Republic medical cannabis system treated approximately 8,000 patients in 2023. 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 2023, 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 235 in 2023.

Czech Republic Cannabis Market Infographics