Bedrocan and adult-use cannabis legalisation in Germany

The new German government is set to legalise some form of adult-use cannabis. Bedrocan has been supplying cannabis to German patients for years. Lately, we have often been asked: ‘Will you soon also be supplying German recreational users?’ That is a very understandable question. However, the answer is simple: No.

Bedrocan does not supply cannabis for recreational use. We do not do that anywhere in the world, not even in the Netherlands, and soon also not in Germany.

Why does Bedrocan not want to enter the recreational market?

Bedrocan believes in a strict separation of medicinal cannabis and cannabis for recreational use. We are committed to providing a pharmaceutical product that is available on prescription to patients who benefit from it. We want to focus one hundred per cent on this assignment. This means that we cannot and do not want to be involved with cannabis for recreational use.

In other countries, we have (unfortunately) seen patients that use medicinal cannabis become the victims of the legalisation of recreational use. Not so much because of the legalisation itself, but because of the fact that producers were tempted to jump into this market. The quality requirements are lower, the rules are easier, controls are less strict, and yields (they hoped) higher. Result: medicinal cannabis received less (or no) attention, and patients were left without the product. We want to avoid that at all costs.

Moreover, it is true that there can indeed be adverse effects from the use of cannabis. That’s why we want our products to be available only to patients who use them with a prescription and under the supervision of a pharmacist. We also only want to use our many years of knowledge and experience in the field of cannabis cultivation for this purpose.

Are you approached by companies or users who would like to work with Bedrocan towards the recreational market?

Yes, very often, in fact. The answer is and will always be ‘no.’ At first, that may sound strange. But change the resource and the players. Suppose the government legalises ecstasy pills. Would a pharmaceutical company that now makes antidepressants or rheumatism drugs show up there? No, of course not. They would stay far from it. The same goes for Bedrocan. Medicinal cannabis and cannabis for recreational use are two different products with completely different target groups. You shouldn’t want to mix them up. Also not after legalisation.

Will you continue to supply German patients?

The current supply system via the Dutch Office of Medicinal Cannabis (OMC) will not be impacted. Therefore, German patients will continue to have access to our pharmaceutical-grade products.