European Cannabis Market

According to a new Brightfield Group report, Europe’s cannabis market is projected to rise 25% from 2019 to reach $359m in 2020 with more than 70% of sales coming from Germany.

In the sixth edition of the European Cannabis Report – produced by London-based advisory group Prohibition Partners – Europe’s cannabis market is projected to be worth €403.4 million by the end of 2021 and to grow with a CAGR of 67.4% from 2021 to reach almost €3.2 billion by 2025:

  • Potential medical cannabis market will hit 2.65 billion euros
  • Potential recreational market value will reach 0.55 billion euros

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 $3.1bn with a 2020-2025 CAGR of 52% and about 67% of sales expected to be in Germany. New Frontier Data estimates the total value of cannabis demand in Europe is $42.9 billion.

Ireland Cannabis Market

In 2019, Ireland legalised medical cannabis as part of a five-year pilot programme for the treatment of several medical conditions in Ireland. Medicinal cannabis can be provided to specific categories of patients with:

  • Spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis resistant to all standard therapies and interventions whilst under expert medical supervision.
  • Intractable nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy, despite the use of standard anti-emetic regimes whilst under expert medical supervision.
  • Severe, refractory (treatment-resistant) epilepsy that has failed to respond to standard anticonvulsant medications whilst under expert medical supervision.

From 2020, patients with a prescription for medical cannabis can send the prescription to a pharmacy in the Netherlands and have their medicines shipped to their homes. The Minister for Health indicated that this could very well become a permanent feature of access to medical cannabis in the country.


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