Cannabis Legalization: How Organic Weed Can Compete With Black Market Prices

Interview

So far, the start-up Cannovum has been selling medical cannabis. But with the legalization, they also want to enter the pleasure market. In an interview, CEO Pia Marten explains how she is preparing her company – and how organic grass wants to compete with black market prices.

watson: Pia, you are currently at home in the medical market with Cannovum. With the planned legalization of recreational cannabis, you also want to enter this market. How do you want to set up your product range there?

Pia Marten: Blossoms, but above all extracts, have been a big topic in the medical market so far – we sell these products. This is how we want to serve the gourmet market. The legislature will specify what is ultimately possible.

According to the current one, the traffic light draws a line key points paper probably with the so-called edibles. For example brownies.

Edibles should be legalized in the medium term. We know that even today, patients use cannabis oils to bake bread or cookies. Release could be gradual – just like it was in Canada. But: protection of minors is particularly important with edibles.

Also common on the black market are CBD flowers that come with synthetic cannabinoids are sprayed – and thus have a much stronger effect than THC flowers. You don’t do that. How high is the THC content in your weed?

We have several products on offer that have different THC levels. They are 8 percent, some up to 29 percent.

That means you offer both inidca and sativa products.

We have a large portfolio and are one of the partners of the Canadian cannabis company Aurora. They have a wide range of flowers, with varieties that are of course also known from the black market.

What criteria do you use to select the varieties that you want to offer on the gourmet market?

Through our medical business we have gained a lot of experience with the different types of flowers and their properties. This knowledge helps us to offer products in the future that many customers want.

And which ones are they?

Regardless of specific strains, it can be said that flowers with a particularly high THC content, a unique terpene profile and a residual moisture content of just under 10 percent are currently in demand.

One Study from the University of Düsseldorf comes to the conclusion that the annual demand for cannabis in Germany is between 380 and 420 tons. The cornerstone paper stipulates that all the grass must also be grown in Germany. How much of it can the Cultivation Alliance produce?

Our cultivation alliance is intended to ensure that we can offer climate-positive premium products for the legalized market. For this we have teamed up with established agricultural companies and farmers. We are already planning to offer more than 10 tons of cannabis at the start of legalization.

That doesn’t cover the needs of Germany, but at least those of Berlin. In the next few weeks, new partners will join the cultivation alliance and we will have significantly more capacity.

That means you plan to include more farmers in your association.

Exactly. However, only partners who work according to the highest ecological standards and in a climate-friendly manner come into the alliance. The topic of consumer protection and climate protection has the highest priority for Cannovum AG.

Pia Marten firmly believes that the legalization of cannabis is coming soon – and is preparing her company.Image: watson / Leonie Daumer

An important point for you is that the grass is grown sustainably and in a climate-friendly manner – why?

Every cultivation is associated with energy consumption – that’s why I think it’s all the more important that we position ourselves climate-neutral. Renewable energies, photovoltaics, biogas plants. We have to produce competitively in Germany. This is only possible if the farmers do it sustainably and, if possible, work in a climate-friendly way.

The farmers who have joined the cultivation alliance are already producing crops and food today. At the same time, eleven tons of grass also need a certain area. Does legalization threaten food shortages?

No. These are experienced and successful farms. They will maintain their existing business and add additional space. Our Cultivation Alliance founding members are currently growing hydrangeas and eucalyptus. Cannabis will be an additional mainstay.

Will this organic weed be more expensive than conventional black market cannabis?

It is important that we have attractive prices. But of course the final price depends on taxation – and on the grower prices.

So far, cannabis is only legally available on prescription.Image: pexels/rodnae

Do you have a concrete number for me, with which prices you are currently planning?

There are many variables that will have a strong impact on the price and that we don’t know: taxation, production requirements…

But?

Legalizing cannabis must be attractive to consumers and economically viable to producers. And the state will also tax the products. I’m sure we can compete with the black market prices.

How much does medicinal cannabis currently cost?

That depends on the THC content. But inexpensive varieties are sold in large pharmacies for just over 10 euros per gram.

That’s a house number. I would now like to ask the question of all questions: When will Bubatz be legal?

This is of course the all-important question that drives us. Ultimately, the key issues paper states that approval is possible in 2024 – and that is what we would like to see. I’m definitely happy that the Politics acknowledge the social reality. Now it has to start quickly.

And what do you do if legalization falls through – for example because the EU says no?

Cannabis legalization is a matter of time. The question is not if, but when. At Cannovum AG, we consider release by 2024 to be very likely.