IS CBD LEGAL IN GERMANY. “GREEN PIONEERS” BANKRUPTED BY GERMAN PROSECUTIONS.

Please remember the prosecution and subsequent bankruptcy of the company Green Pioneers was based on the ” intoxication clause”, a clause now described as “senseless” and soon to be deleted from German law. The intoxication clause has caused hundreds, possibly thousands of business closures across Germany resulting in lost taxes and jobs – and all for no good reason.

[Ost Hessian News https://osthessen-news.de/n11758837/hanf-unternehmen-green-pioneers-insolvent-cannabisgesetz-andert-nichts.html]

09.04.24 – The industrial hemp company “Green Pioneers” from Fulda started in 2018 to produce food and natural cosmetics from THC-free hemp plants. On an area of ​​50 hectares, work was also carried out with regional farmers on the rehabilitation of the cultivated plant, which can even be used for textiles and as a building material. Now the company has to file for bankruptcy: charges of gang-related drug trafficking and negligent trafficking in narcotics have ruined first the reputation and then the trade relations.

Since April 1, the consumption and possession of cannabis products containing THC in limited quantities has been exempt from punishment in Germany. Industrial hemp can now also be placed on the market with a THC value of 0.3 percent – previously the limit was 0.2 percent. This does not help the “green pioneers”, who also maintained three hectares of cultivation area not far from the company headquarters in the tranquil Malkes district: in 2021, the premises were searched by the public prosecutor’s office and the police. The charge: suspicion of gang-related drug trafficking in a not insignificant quantity. The charge was later downgraded to negligent trafficking narcotics.

Intoxication clause remains

“Analyses by the Hessian crime laboratory have shown that our products contain between 0.13 and 0.19 percent THC. So we were even below the old limit. However, the Cannabis Act contains the so-called intoxication clause, which states that abuse for intoxication purposes must be completely ruled out, even if the limit is not reached. This old intoxication clause was not deleted. And the Fulda public prosecutor’s office is basing its appeal on this,” explains Philipp Gärtner, one of the three managing directors of “Green Pioneers”.

After an acquittal for the charge of negligent trafficking in narcotics was recorded at the Fulda District Court in February 2023, the public prosecutor’s office appealed because of the same intoxication clause. Since then, the hemp entrepreneurs have been waiting for an appeal date at the Fulda Regional Court. This has not yet been set, as the Fulda Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed. Gärtner estimates the financial damage at around 750,000 euros: confiscated stocks of goods, as well as the damaged trade relations due to the loss of reputation in the industry.

Proportionality Not Given

The public prosecutor’s office has reported more than 50 of our trading partners for dealing in narcotics – after that, no one will work with you anymore. The proportionality is simply not there: At an earlier court hearing, it was determined that you would have to buy CBD products from our shop for 1,000 euros to get high. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor’s office is sticking to the appeal – even though you can now simply grow grass legally in your garden. So the cannabis law doesn’t change anything for us.”Because the financial reserves of the “Green Pioneers” have been used up, bankruptcy was filed in March. “We simply have no more economic options. Recently we wanted to establish a soft drink made from industrial hemp, completely without CBD or THC. But we can no longer find any trading partners – the damage to our reputation is simply too great. If the appeal were dropped, that would at least contribute to our rehabilitation,” said Gärtner. (mau) +++