Bloomwell Group GmbH
Product transparency, information and counseling are likewise key reasons for them to move from illegal self-medication to legal, medically supervised care with medicinal cannabis. With prices for medicinal flowers starting at 2 euros per gram, therapy has also become affordable for patients whose costs have no longer been covered by health insurance funds since the end of July 2026. Cannabis telemedicine is the last lifeline for patients here, yet it is once again under fire from the Federal Ministry of Health.
Dr. med. Julian Wichmann, co-founder and CEO of Bloomwell GmbH, said:
"The illegal market makes people sick. The results of our survey can hardly be interpreted any other way. Stress, contamination and a permanent, underlying worry place a considerable burden on those affected. These psychological and health consequences of renewed criminalization receive far too little attention in the public debate. Instead, the debate focuses mainly on unproven abuse. In fact, the widespread adoption of digitalized cannabis therapy has had a very positive effect on health outcomes, simply by reducing the risks of illegal self-medication."
The illegal market is the obvious alternative to legal digital therapy with medicinal cannabis.
Roughly nine of 10 respondents already have experience with the illegal market. A survey in the summer of 2025 had already found that, if telemedicine were restricted, 41% would return to the illegal market. Only a fraction stated at the time that they would consider other medical therapy options instead of cannabis. At the same time, a 2025 DocCheck survey of 500 office-based general practitioners showed how restrictively medicinal cannabis is still prescribed there. Despite patients' preference for medically supervised, legal access via specialized platforms, the currently discussed tightening of the Medical Cannabis Act (MedCanG) primarily threatens to strengthen illegal procurement routes.
The survey indicates advantages of legal medicinal cannabis supply from the patients' perspective.
Among the 7,062 patients who have experience with both medicinal cannabis from the pharmacy and the illegal market, a clear preference for medicinal cannabis from the pharmacy emerges. The advantages include:
- 96.7% report that medicinal cannabis from the pharmacy is "cleaner and purer" than cannabis from the illegal market
- 98.2% report being better informed and advised when obtaining cannabis with a valid prescription at a German pharmacy than on the illegal market.
- 94.4% report that medicinal cannabis from the pharmacy is cheaper for them than lower-quality cannabis on the illegal market.
Stress of Illegal Acquisition
On a scale from one (no stress) to 10 (a lot of stress), respondents rate acquiring cannabis illegally at an average of 8.1. They rate obtaining medically prescribed medicinal cannabis from the pharmacy at an average of 1.8. The illegal market thus causes about 4.5 times as much stress as redeeming a digital prescription at a pharmacy. Nearly 80% of respondents cite "general well-being" as an important reason for legal medicinal cannabis. In addition, 77.8% indicate fear of contaminants on the illegal market, and 77.4% welcome product transparency. Two-thirds explicitly cite health-related reasons.
Legally prescribed quantities continue to rise.
The number of people switching from illegal structures to legal medical prescription continues to grow in Germany. Compared with the previous quarter, the quantities dispensed to patients by German pharmacies via Bloomwell grew by a further 50% in the third quarter of 2026. At the same time, the average price, which patients see as an important incentive for switching to legal therapy, fell to 3.77 euros per gram of medicinal cannabis flowers.
For the report, Bloomwell surveyed 7,913 medicinal cannabis patients anonymously and in compliance with data protection laws online in September 2026, on a nonrepresentative basis, and analyzed anonymized datasets of cannabis patients in the six-digit range and prescriptions in the seven-digit range.
