Berlin authorities approve just 7 cannabis clubs

More than one year after the German government decriminalised cannabis for personal use, just seven Cannabis Social Clubs (CSCs) have been approved in Berlin.

Berlin approving Cannabis Social Clubs at snail's pace

Figures recently published by the Berlin State Office for Health (Lageso) and reported by rbb have revealed that only seven CSCs were approved in the capital in 2024. The Lageso is responsible for approving CSCs, the associations that residents over 18 can join to trade homegrown cannabis with other members.

Between November 2024 and June 2025, 29 associations applied for a cultivation licence in the German city. The approved sites are located in Lichtenberg, Pankow, Reinickendorf and Steglitz-Zehlendorf.

Bureaucratic confusion is behind the delays. After the federal government legalised cannabis, local authorities in Berlin were playing ping-pong over which department should take responsibility for processing cultivation licence applications. Berlin Health Senator Ina Czyborra (SPD) admitted that CSC licence application procedures were still not “running smoothly”. 

Lageso playing balancing act between diligence and pragmatism

Lageso president Alexander Straßmeir added that, when it came to issuing CSCs licences, the office was playing a balancing act “between legally compliant diligence and pragmatic administrative practice”. 

Despite the delays, Straßmeir said that the development of a specialist group on cannabis consumer protection at the Lageso has been one of the department’s defining developments.