Controlled dispensing to start at the beginning of 2025 in sales outlets in the city of Hanover.
Subject of the study: Cannabis use - here a flowering cannabis plant. Copyright: Bildquelle: Pixabay
At the beginning of 2025, the city of Hanover will launch the first pilot project on cannabis use in Germany. The project is supported medically and scientifically by the Clinic for Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Hannover Medical School (MHH). The subject of the pilot project is the controlled distribution of cannabis in up to three sales outlets in the city area. Cooperation partners in the project are the City of Frankfurt and Sanity Group GmbH.
In Hanover, around 4,000 people are expected to take part in the study so that the effects of the pilot project on individual consumer behaviour, as well as health and youth protection and the illegal market, can be examined. ‘The data from this study could form an important basis for shaping a future-oriented drug policy in the future,’ explains Prof Dr Kirsten Müller-Vahl. The managing senior physician at the Clinic for Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy is the cannabis expert responsible for the scientific part of the project in Hanover.
Mayor Belit Onay signs declaration of intent
Hanover's Lord Mayor Belit Onay signed a declaration of intent for the innovative project today and explained: ‘We want to recognise social realities. Long before the political debate, the number of people consuming in all age groups in Germany was on the rise.
We hope to find answers to the question of whether this model enables better integration into the support system and improved youth protection, as well as helping to displace the illegal market. The results will form the basis for future political decisions. The cooperation with the city of Frankfurt also enables us to exchange experiences at a municipal level. ’The pilot project will start in Frankfurt at the same time, where it will be scientifically supported by the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.
Study runs for five years
The pilot project will run for five years and is intended to give adult study participants who regularly reside in the city of Hanover legal access to cannabis products with varying THC content at up to three different points of sale. Participation in the study requires regular participation in scientific surveys. Passing on purchased products to third parties will lead to exclusion from the study. In addition, a comparative study will be conducted with members of the Cannabis Social Club Hannover e.V. (CSC).
‘Our main interest in this project is the scientific findings that provide information on the effects of legal sale on the frequency of consumption, the change in the selection of the THC content of the purchased products or a switch to products with less health damage. We want to move away from assumptions and ideological debates. It also allows us to make direct contact with users and, if necessary, provide them with counselling services,’ explained Sylvia Bruns, Head of Social Affairs.
Scientific data important for future decisions
Professor Müller-Vahl and Dr Thomas Peschel, founder of the Diamorphine Outpatient Clinic Patrida in Hanover, are responsible for the medical and scientific monitoring at the Hanover site. ‘By scientifically investigating the effects of regulated and structured access to cannabis, it can be determined whether health and youth protection can be strengthened, consumption risks reduced and the illegal market pushed back,’ says Professor Müller-Vahl about the project's objectives.‘ In the long term, the results of the study can help to create safe framework conditions for consumers and utilise public health resources more effectively.’
To ensure that only study participants buy cannabis products at the points of sale, all participants receive a pseudonymised ID card. This can be used to determine beyond doubt which cannabis quantities were purchased at which point of sale in the current month. This is made possible by a QR code that is printed on the product packaging and scanned at the point of sale. On the one hand, this ensures that the quantity sold is limited to the legally authorised amount. Secondly, if the packaging is found, it can be determined whether the person carrying the product was actually the purchaser of the product.
Quality of cannabis on the illegal market - random samples in Hanover
The Sanity Group, implementation partner of the pilot project, has already been operating two sales outlets since the end of 2023 as part of a comparable study in Switzerland and recently conducted a random sample survey on cannabis on the black market in thirty German cities - including Hanover. Project manager Leonard Friedrich, responsible for the sales outlet concept in the state capital, explained: ‘The results of these analyses clearly underline how urgent the need for political action really is. For example, traces of pesticides banned in the EU and cocaine were found in samples from Hanover. With a view to health protection as the goal of the partial legalisation of cannabis, scientific model projects such as this one are an enormously important step towards legal access to clean, safe products. We are delighted to be able to support the city of Hanover in this endeavour.’
Interaction with consumers - safer use and consumer competence workshops
In order to offer a low-threshold intervention option at the points of sale, staff will be trained accordingly. The sales staff will not only be available to answer all kinds of questions from consumers, but will also actively approach people with problematic and risky consumer behaviour and point out further advice and help if required. The low-threshold approach in the sales outlets is intended to draw attention to potentially harmful consumption patterns at an early stage in order to prevent the development of an addiction. The centrally used software, which among other things documents the quantities sold, makes it possible to analyse individual consumption patterns. In order to sensitise the study participants to conscious and controlled cannabis consumption right from the start, the implementation of ‘safer use and consumption competence’ workshops is planned.
The counselling and prevention services are also to be further expanded. A special focus will be placed on children, adolescents and young adults.
Legal framework conditions
The quantities of cannabis and the THC levels are dispensed within the legally permitted quantities. Accordingly, a lower dispensing quantity with an adjusted maximum THC limit applies to study participants aged between 18 and 21 (see Section 19 (3) KCanG). Last year, the federal government created the legal basis for the partial legalisation of cannabis and its controlled distribution under the condition of scientific monitoring. The aim of the legal regulation is to minimise harm through quality controls of the substances and thus improve health protection. In addition, cannabis-related education and prevention programmes are to be further expanded and strengthened, particularly with regard to children and young people.
Text: Tina Götting