Canadian grower Aurora Cannabis has started sending international shipments of dried cannabis flower to supply medical marijuana patients in Germany. Both countries implemented nationwide legalization of medical cannabis use recently. Germany has experienced supply shortages which the Alberta bud producer was happy to fill once its import/export permits were in place.

Aurora Cannabis

Aurora is a large cannabis supplier based in Vancouver. Aurora’s susidiary company Aurora Cannabis operates a 55,000 sq ft growing facility in Mountain View, Alberta, where they grew the bud in their initial 50 kg shipment to Germany.

Aurora has plans for a huge expansion of its production facilities, with two more locations scheduled to open soon. Their next project is Aurora Sky, an 800,000 sq ft glass greenhouse located at the Edmonton International Airport that is currently about 30% complete. Once operational, the facility will employ 300 biotechnicians producing over 100,000 kg of cannabis yearly. The third facility will be in Quebec, outside Montreal.

An artist's rendering of the Aurora Sky facility.

The company has its fingers in other parts of the legal cannabis market through other partial subsidiary companies. These include hemp products through HempCo, extraction through Radient Technologies, and Australian medical cannabis markets through Cann Group. Aurora also retains full ownership of German medical cannabis distributor Pedanios.

Paid For by the German National Health System

Pedanios provides Aurora with ready access to the cannabis distribution system in Germany, as that country’s largest cannabis distributor. Pedanios gives Aurora an in-road to 1500 pharmacies across Germany. The company also distributes cannabis for 3 of the other 4 international suppliers operating in Germany.

With a population of 82 million, Germany represents the largest federally legal cannabis market – more than twice the size of Canada. The national health system in Germany covers the cost of cannabis for approved patients there. Aurora hopes to expand its shipments to other EU countries in the near future.

German Supply Shortage an Opportunity for (some) Foreign Producers

The deal between the Canadian supplier and German consumers illustrates what is possible under systems of federal legalization. Medical marijuana was legal in the United States on a state by state basis (California, 1996) much earlier than in either Canada (2001) or Germany (2016). But without federal recognition, suppliers in the US are limited to their own insular markets. Interstate shipments are prohibited; forget international.

This is a shame because many of the strains and products that make up the current cannabis market are the product of US breeders and distributors who remain locked out of the economic opportunities now unfolding in the sector. The longer the US waits to legalize cannabis at the federal level, the fewer opportunities like this one will remain.