Germany won’t award first cannabis cultivation licenses until early 2019

Germany intends to award the country’s first domestic licenses for medical cannabis cultivation in the first quarter of next year, with the first crop expected in 2020.

The government laid out the timetable in a written response to queries from the Free Democratic Party parliamentary group in the Bundestag, according to the weekly German-language medical magazine Deutsches Aerzteblatt.

The country is on track to become one of the world’s largest medical marijuana markets as insured patient numbers soar.

Earlier this summer, Germany restarted the application process to grow medical cannabis in the country, but the amount being called for remains well short of demand.

The deadline to apply is Oct. 22.

Germany recently turned to the Netherlands to significantly increase shipments of medical cannabis to help the country cope with soaring demand.

Canadian and Dutch medical cannabis companies are already exporting a record amount of medical cannabis to Germany.

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