Germany set plans to legalize recreational use of cannabis earlier this year: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/26/germany-to-legalize-cannabis-use-for-recreational-purposes.html
The new legislation is still subject to approval from the European Commission
The market will close as a YES if before December 31, 2024 a shop that sells cannabis with a THC content of ~4% is opened on German territory.
N.B. It doesn't matter if no shops are present on 31/12/24 as long as at least one was legally opened before that
https://www.sat1regional.de/bundesweit-erster-cannabis-social-club-in-ganderkesee-eroeffnet/
The first club got their license approved back in July, they plan their first harvest in October and want to charge 5,60€/g of cannabis. You can become a member on the spot.
I think this is actually still undervalued. The law that legalizes Cannabis Growing Clubs has passed.
These Clubs will provide cannabis at cost to their members (One such club that plans to do this: https://arc.net/l/quote/ikljejoe)
The timeline is the following: Clubs will be able to apply for a growing license in July, and then it takes a while for them to actually succeed with growing.
I don't think there will be enough clubs for just anyone to join one. But I'm pretty confident that by the end of the year, there will be many cannabis club members that can pay for Cannabis in Germany.
The question is more, will you actually consider them stores, if for example you need to be a club member for a month before getting access to cannabis.
@marktwse I agree that the definition is currently ambiguous. I'm waiting to see until the first establishments actually open, but at the moment I think I would agree that if you're in no way directly paying for cannabis then this would still count as a NO
@marktweise I would say that it depends on how membership is obtained. If it's a straightforward process then I'd say it counts given the clubs would behave similarly to a membership-only shop (e.g. METRO)