Germany Imported 201 Tonnes of Medical Cannabis Last Year. Canada's Producers Are Buying In.

Germany imported 201 tonnes of medical cannabis in 2025, nearly three times its 2024 total, and Canadian cannabis companies have been buying into Europe, most directly Germany. Organigram paid €107.3 million upfront this year for Sanity Group, which it ranks as Germany's second-largest medical cannabis company. Aurora now makes 64% of its revenue outside Canada.

Back home, sales are still growing, but prices keep falling. For most of these companies, Europe is where the fastest growth is, and it's where they're spending.

About the numbers: German import totals are BfArM figures as reported by StratCann. International revenue shares are calculated from figures reported in each company's latest earnings release. Deal terms come from company releases and SEC filings linked below.

Why Germany

Germany legalized adult possession in April 2024 and, in the same law, took cannabis off its narcotics list. That made medical cannabis far easier to prescribe, including through online doctors and mail-order pharmacies. Imports went from 72,850 kilograms in 2024 to 201,094 kilograms in 2025, per BfArM data reported by StratCann. Canada was the largest supplier, at about 93 tonnes.

Canada's own market is squeezing margins. Retail sales grew 4.1% in 2025 to C$5.62 billion, per Statistics Canada, but cannabis prices were down 3.2% year over year in March 2026, per StratCann, and wholesale flower fell to about C$1.22 a gram last fall. The federal excise tax is still at least C$1 a gram, set when flower sold for around C$10. Medical cannabis sold abroad doesn't carry it: Cronos credits its higher gross margin to a shift toward excise-free sales in Israel and Germany, per its second-quarter results.

The deals

Organigram bought into Germany's top tier

Organigram agreed to buy Sanity Group in February and closed on April 15, paying €107.3 million upfront, €78 million in cash and the rest in shares. Sanity's net revenue grew from €9 million in 2023 to €60 million in 2025, and Organigram ranks it the second-largest medical cannabis company in Germany. In August the two sides fixed the earn-out at 85% of its maximum: €20 million in cash plus about €76 million in Organigram shares, due by May 2027.

The deal changed Organigram overnight. In its quarter ended June 30, net revenue rose 49% to C$105.8 million, and Sanity contributed about C$40 million in its first two and a half months, per Organigram's results. That's about 38% of the total.

Aurora already lives abroad, and Curaleaf wants it

Aurora didn't need a European acquisition. Its one 2026 deal, Safari Flower Company, added EU-GMP-certified growing capacity in Canada to supply it. Aurora's international medical sales, led by Germany, rose 17% to C$43.3 million in the quarter ended June 30, about 64% of its C$67.6 million in net revenue, per Aurora's results. Its Canadian medical sales fell 25% after a federal reimbursement cut, and it has wound down its Canadian recreational brands.

US operator Curaleaf has made a hostile bid for Aurora, citing in part its international business. Curaleaf raised the offer on October 5 to about US$5 a share, open until December 4. Aurora's board rejected the original offer.

Tilray bought beer

Tilray went to Europe for a different product. In March it bought BrewDog's UK business out of administration for £33 million, then picked up BrewDog's Australian, US and remaining UK assets, for US$54.1 million across the four deals, per its latest quarterly filing. In the quarter ended August 31, Tilray's beverage revenue rose 82% to $101.5 million, while its cannabis revenue fell to $56.1 million and its Canadian adult-use sales dropped 16%.

Tilray's Europe, Middle East and Africa revenue rose 71% in that quarter, but that figure includes beer and pharmaceutical distribution. International cannabis alone grew about 21%, to $16.2 million. Tilray also bought Lyphe Group, a UK medical cannabis clinic and online pharmacy, for about $3.1 million in April.

High Tide and Cronos bought distributors

High Tide, the Canadian dispensary chain, closed on 51% of Remexian Pharma, a Berlin-area medical cannabis importer, in September 2025 for about €26.4 million in cash, a seller loan and shares. It has an option to buy the rest. In High Tide's quarter ended July 31, Remexian brought in C$38.2 million and distributed a record 10.2 tonnes, per the company, about 19% of High Tide's C$198.8 million in revenue.

Cronos agreed in December 2025 to buy CanAdelaar, one of the licensed growers in the Netherlands' regulated adult-use experiment, for €57.5 million upfront plus earn-outs. It still hasn't closed. The deadline has been pushed twice, most recently to October 15, while Dutch authorities run integrity reviews, and Dutch lawmakers have asked questions about tobacco company Altria's 41% stake in Cronos. The agreement can be terminated if the deal isn't done by October 15.

Canopy grew without buying abroad

Canopy Growth's only big deal this year was at home: it closed its purchase of MTL Cannabis, a Quebec medical producer, in March, in a deal valued at about C$125 million in equity when it was announced. Its international cannabis revenue rose 10% to C$9.6 million in the quarter ended June 30, led by Poland, about 12% of the total. It relaunched its Tweed brand in Germany's medical market during that quarter.

The risk: Germany could close the door

The boom depends on easy prescriptions. A bill before the Bundestag (Drucksache 21/3061) would require an in-person doctor visit before flower is prescribed and ban mail-order pharmacy sales, though pharmacies could still deliver by courier. Its final votes have been postponed repeatedly, and as of early October no final vote had been scheduled, so telemedicine prescriptions and mail order are still legal.

Growth has also been uneven. Germany's imports dipped about 4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, the first quarterly decline in two years, then rebounded to a record of about 67.6 tonnes in the first quarter of 2026, per revised BfArM figures. For companies that have tied their growth to Germany, the Bundestag vote may matter more than anything that happens in Ottawa.