Survey of 7,913 German Patients Finds Pharmacy Cannabis Preferred

What the survey found

A survey of 7,913 medicinal cannabis patients in Germany found a preference for pharmacy-supplied cannabis, with the illegal market described as a major source of stress. Cannabis Business Times reported the results on Oct. 22.

According to the report, almost 90% of respondents have experience with both the illegal market and medicinal cannabis from pharmacies. That's not a sample of curious newcomers. These are patients who have bought through both channels and can compare them.

What the published summary leaves out

The summary available to CannIntel doesn't say who ran the survey, when it was fielded, or how stress was measured. We haven't reviewed the underlying dataset. Read the findings with that gap in mind.

Four details would let readers judge the result:

• The survey sponsor and any funding ties to producers, importers, or advocacy groups
• Field dates and the recruitment method
• How "stress" was defined and scored
• Whether results were broken out by diagnosis or prescription type

Recruitment method matters most. A survey drawn from an engaged patient community can differ from the broader prescription population.

Why the dual-experience figure matters

Nearly 90% of respondents having used both channels turns a preference poll into a comparison. Most patient surveys ask about one source. This one, by the report's description, asks people who have lived with both.

A patient who has bought both ways is a better witness than a policy memo.

What drives the stress isn't broken out in the summary. Product quality, supply reliability, price, and legal exposure are all plausible, but the signal confirms none of them. Not yet.

In the survey's framing, patients who know both channels treat the illegal market as a burden rather than a convenience, and see the pharmacy as the lower-stress option.

The legal backdrop: two laws, one date

Germany split medical and adult-use cannabis into separate statutes on April 1, 2024. The Medizinal-Cannabisgesetz (MedCanG) moved medical cannabis out of the Narcotics Act. The Konsumcannabisgesetz (KCanG) legalized limited adult possession and home cultivation, plus cultivation associations, that same day.

That sequencing complicates the survey's reading. Adult-use access now exists outside the pharmacy, yet the report describes the comparison as pharmacy versus the illegal market, and the summary doesn't say whether respondents also weighed home cultivation or association supply.

The answer would change the story. A patient preferring pharmacies over street sources is expected. A patient preferring pharmacies over legal adult-use options would be a sharper finding.

What it means for pharmacies, importers, and prescribers

If the preference holds up, the competitive threat to the pharmacy channel is the illegal market's convenience and price, not patient loyalty. The signal supplies no price or availability data. That remains an inference.

For operators, three questions follow:

1. Can pharmacy supply stay consistent enough to keep patients from drifting back to illicit sources?
2. Does the stress finding reflect access barriers in the prescription pathway, or only fear of illegal purchasing?
3. Will regulators read the result as support for the current framework or as evidence of unmet demand?

Germany's rules for medical cannabis supply, import, and prescribing have been a live issue since the MedCanG took effect. For full background on this story, see the CannIntel topic hub on the German Medical Cannabis Program.

What to watch next

The survey's value depends on methodology that hasn't yet been published in the summary. Start with the sponsor and the full questionnaire.

Next up: whether the researchers release the dataset, and whether German health officials or lawmakers cite the 7,913-patient figure in any MedCanG debate.