How Common Is Legal Home Cannabis Cultivation In Germany?
Starting on April 1st, 2024, adults in Germany can cultivate up to three plants in their private residences. Before the public policy change and enactment of the nation’s CanG law, cultivating cannabis in Germany was a criminal offense. Home cultivation is one of the major components of Germany’s legalization model.
Until recently, it was largely unclear how many adults in Germany were taking advantage of their new, sensible home cultivation freedom. The results of a new scientific study, led by Dr. Mira Lehberger and Prof. Dr. Kai Sparke from the Department of Horticultural Economics at Geisenheim University, provide insight into how popular home cultivation is in Germany post-legalization.
The scientific study involved a survey, conducted in December 2024, of 1,500 adults. Study participants were selected from “an existing panel to ensure representation of all age groups and regions of origin (both federal states and urban/rural)” according to initial reporting by Deutscher Hanfverband (DHV), and subjects were divided ‘roughly equally’ between men and women.
Below are key findings from the study:
- 47% of survey respondents expressed support for legal home cultivation
- 46.3% indicated agreement with the statement “The legalization of private cannabis cultivation reduces illegal activities in Germany.”
- 44% of participants see legal home cultivation as ‘an opportunity for better quality control’
- 41.1% see legal home cultivation as ‘an opportunity for greater sustainability’
- One in ten participants indicated that they had already legally cultivated cannabis post-legalization
- 11% of participants who had not cultivated cannabis ‘could imagine’ doing so in the future
- A majority of participants who stated they had cultivated legal cannabis were male (58.5%)
“Growing supplies and seeds were purchased both online and in-store, but specialized online retailers were used most frequently.” stated DHV in its local reporting.
According DHV’s coverage of the study’s findings, “The median cultivation costs were €30 per plant and €1 per gram of cannabis, which are significantly lower than the prices of cannabis on the black market or medical cannabis in pharmacies.”
A previous YouGov poll in Germany found that 7% of poll participants had already purchased cannabis seeds or cuttings/clones at the time of the polling (May 2024). In addition to the 7% of poll participants indicating that they had already purchased cannabis genetics for their home gardens, another 11% of poll participants responded that they planned to purchase cannabis genetics in the future.
Home cultivation provides consumers with numerous benefits, not the least of which is controlling what goes into cultivating the cannabis that they consume. By producing their own cannabis, consumers know exactly what the harvested cannabis contains. Furthermore, home cultivation provides cost savings for experienced home cultivators, as the results of the recent scientific study demonstrate.
Cannabis opponents in Germany are continuing to push for a reversal of the nation’s cannabis legalization law, particularly when it comes to home cultivation. Demands by opponents fail to recognize, either purposefully or out of ignorance, that cannabis is going to be produced in Germany regardless of whether it is legal or not. Allowing personal home cultivation is a more sensible approach to public policy and frees up the nation’s criminal justice system to focus on fighting real crime.
Home cannabis cultivation by adults for recreational purposes is also legal in Uruguay, Canada, Malta, Luxembourg, South Africa, and in many local jurisdictions in the United States. Major court decisions in other nations also provide some level of protection for adults cultivating personal amounts of cannabis.
