Record-Breaking Mary Jane Fair in Berlin Highlights Cannabis Boom Amid Political Uncertainty

Now even bigger and even longer – the “Mary Jane” cannabis fair, which ended on Sunday, set new records again in its ninth edition. It took place over four days instead of the previous three, with over 500 exhibitors in attendance, and the organizers now touted it as the “world’s largest cannabis event.”

Partial Legalization Fuels Growth of “Mary Jane” Cannabis Fair

The organizers of the “Mary Jane” cannabis fair had already recognized at the last event that the partial legalization of cannabis, passed by the traffic light government last year, would have a boosting effect on the festival. Instead of the Treptow Arena as usual, it was held for the first time at the much more spacious Messe Berlin. However, the rush was still so enormous that many visitors of teh Mary Jane fair complained afterward that they had to wait for hours at the entrance and, in some cases, were denied entry due to overcrowding.

During the visit on Saturday afternoon, such problems seemed to be under control. There was no crush at the entrance, and the exhibition halls and a vast outdoor area with a total exhibition space of over 20,000 square meters were nevertheless well attended. After police and ambulances had to be called in countless times last year because visitors had not properly assessed their drug use limits, an awareness team was also set up for the first time.

The traffic light government triggered the cannabis boom, and it continues unabated, even if the new federal government is no longer as committed to partial legalization as the previous one. The CDU makes no secret of its desire to make life more difficult for cannabis users as quickly as possible, but the SPD, as a coalition partner, currently wants to maintain the status quo. So, these are essentially uncertain times again for the cannabis industry, which, however, remains visibly optimistic.

Instead of the “clubs”, telemedicine dominates the business

There was a real buzz everywhere at the Mary Jane fair: It seemed like every other booth had a wheel of fortune, where you could win seeds for hemp plants, for example. There were countless panel discussions and concerts, including one by Hamburg rapper and chronic stoner Samy Deluxe.

US rapper Snoop Dogg, a long-time icon of the cannabis scene, presented his own rolling papers as a testimonial, and former boxer Mike Tyson, now a successful cannabis businessman in the US, stopped by on Friday. You can really make money with cannabis: What does this honey from “Captain Weedy” taste like? People at the trade fair wondered. At the next booth, “The Big Cannabis Cookbook” beckoned with the motto: “Smoking weed is yesterday, today it’s time to cook.”

Last year’s Mary Jane fair focused on cultivation associations, which, under current legislation, are supposed to ensure that cannabis consumers are supplied with high-quality weed. However, since the development of these clubs continues to be very slow due to various bureaucratic hurdles, home cultivation of hemp plants, and especially medical cannabis, is currently booming.

Through online platforms, you can easily register as a cannabis patient and then have your weed delivered by a pharmacy. The owner of such a cannabis pharmacy in Langen, Hesse, who had a booth at the trade fair, also commented: “The clubs have disappeared.” Instead, so-called telemedicine now dominates the business.

The CDU wants to make cannabis access more difficult again

However, since it has long been clear that not every cannabis patient really suffers from sleep disorders or depression and in reality simply wants to get good weed from the pharmacies, there are currently signals from the CDU to better regulate this area, which is also penetrated by some shady profiteers, in other words: to make the now quite easy access to cannabis via the medical online platforms more difficult again.

An employee at the booth of Demecan, a company that produces and distributes medical cannabis, nevertheless appeared completely calm. “We’re hearing that everything is largely supposed to stay the same and that the CDU actually has other problems,” he said. Moreover, thanks to telemedicine, there are now substantial tax revenues, which CDU politicians might not want to forgo.

It would have been interesting to hear more about this from the announced CDU representative at the “political summit of drug policy spokespersons in the Bundestag” on Saturday at the Mary Jane. However, only the Green and Left Party spokespersons were present. Probably because the CDU representative wouldn’t have had anything to say that the Mary Jane attendees would have wanted to hear.

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(Featured image by anna-m.w via Pexels)

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First published in taz. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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