🇨🇿 Czech Republic Overview
The Czech Republic is one of the most liberal countries in Europe in terms of its medical cannabis and overall drug policy. The country first established its medical cannabis framework in 2013, allowing patients with specific conditions and illnesses to receive medical cannabis treatment. The Czech Republic is a small market compared to countries such as Germany, the UK and Poland, though sales and patient numbers are still growing. From April 2025, general practitioners have been able to prescribe medical cannabis to patients suffering from chronic pain, easing patient access and stimulating market growth.
As of 1 January 2022, an Amendment to the Addictive Substances Act came into force, which removed the tender for domestic cultivation, allowing companies to apply for a cultivation licence. This has resulted in a growing domestic cultivation industry.
The Czech Republic is currently still an import-reliant medical cannabis market, however, following the opening of the commercial cultivation market the country has become a strong cultivator of medical cannabis for European export. In 2024, the Czech Republic saw its first export of medical cannabis into Germany with the country exporting over 1,300 kilograms over the year to Germany.
🇨🇿 Regulations
The Czech Republic first legalised the use of medical cannabis in 2013 through the adoption of the Act No. 50/2013 Coll., on Pharmaceuticals and Addictive Substances. The conditions in which medical cannabis can be prescribed, as well as the regulatory framework towards medical cannabis handling, distribution, cultivation and processing, are set by decrees made by the Ministry of Health and amendments made to the Pharmaceuticals and Addictive Substances Acts.
To commercially operate with medical cannabis in the Czech Republic, companies are obliged to hold specific permits for handling addictive substances as well as authorisations for their relevant business activities (i.e. import, distribution, cultivation etc.). Depending on the permit/authorisation the issuance for these is handled by the State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) or the Ministry of Health.
Compared to other European countries, the Czech Republic has been very active in implementing new decrees and amendments which have allowed the country to ease patient access as well as support the commercialisation and growth of the market.
In January 2022, an amendment to the country’s Addictive Substances Act came into force which eliminated the tender process for domestic cultivation, allowing companies to obtain a licence. This has fuelled market growth by increasing the number of suppliers, enabling an export market and reducing the product price to patients. In August 2022, the decree on the cultivation and processing of cannabis plants for medicinal use was published, No. 235/2022, which provided the rules and requirements for cultivators to follow in terms of growing practices, security and storage, recording, harvesting and processing.
🇨🇿 Patient Access
Who Can Prescribe?
In the Czech Republic, general practitioners (and specialists) can prescribe medical cannabis to patients suffering from chronic pain.
Aside from chronic pain, only doctors with the following specialisations can prescribe medical cannabis:
- Clinical Oncology
- Radiation Oncology
- Neurology
- Ophthalmology
- Psychiatry
- Palliative medicine
- Pain Management
- Rheumatology
- Dermatovenerology
- Orthopedics
- Infectious medicine
- Internal medicine
- Geriatrics
In comparison to other open markets in Europe, the Czech Republic does not have a strong medical cannabis clinic network, with most patients accessing treatment from specialised health clinics and hospitals.
What are the treatable pathologies?
The treatable pathologies in which medical cannabis may be prescribed in the Czech Republic include:
- Chronic intractable pain (especially pain related to oncological disease, pain associated with degenerative diseases of the musculoskeletal system, systemic connective tissue diseases and immunopathological conditions, neuropathic pain, pain associated with glaucoma)
- Multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury
- Nausea, vomiting, appetite stimulation in connection with cancer treatment or HIV treatment
- Gilles de la Tourette syndrome
- Superficial treatment of dermatoses and mucosal lesions
Medical cannabis must be prescribed by a practicing specialist in that field. For example, if a patient is suffering from glaucoma, only an ophthalmologist may prescribe medical cannabis.
Reimbursement
In the Czech Republic, public health insurers cover 90 % of medical cannabis costs for up to 30 grams of cannabis a month. Although this helps in reducing patient costs, some medical cannabis patients and associations in the country believe that 30 grams a month is too little. Many patients consume significantly more than 30 grams, and must pay for the rest of their medicine as an out-of-pocket expense.
🇨🇿 Patient Access
The number of unique medical cannabis patients has grown year-over-year in the Czech Republic. The years in which the Czech Republic saw the highest growth in patients were in 2020, with an increase of over 2,500 patients following the adoption of reimbursement from public health insurance, and in 2024, with an increase of 2,722 patients. On average, the yearly growth rate of Czech medical cannabis patients is around 10-15%.
In 2024, Czech pharmacies dispensed over 260 kilograms of cannabis to patients. In 2025, the Czech Republic dispensed over 389 kilograms of cannabis, which is over 120 kilograms from the previous year. The rise in medical cannabis dispensation correlates with the increase in medical cannabis patients in the country.
The Czech Republic remains a flower-dominated market with roughly 75-80% of medical cannabis products dispensed at pharmacies being flower. The Czech Republic only began approving medical cannabis extract products in 2022, with the first extract-based products from Motagon becoming available in the second half of that year. However, in 2024, extract-based products grew from 8% of the total products dispensed in January to over 14% by December. This growth continued, as by the end of 2025, roughly 27% of cannabis dispensed were extract products, highlighting a rising demand.
🇨🇿 Products & Prices
In 2022, the Czech Republic set a maximum price cap on domestic medical cannabis flowers per gram at CZK 143.75 (€5.7). Depending on the source, Czech-grown/imported and pharmacy mark-up, prices for medical cannabis flowers in the Czech Republic range from €5-8 per gram before VAT. For cannabis extracts, the price is capped at CZK 1,006.25 (€40) per 1 gram of weight before VAT. It must be noted that public insurers cover 90% of the product costs of up to 30 grams a month.
Prohibition Partners has identified 68 medical flower products and 5 extract products registered on the Czech medical cannabis market. The majority of products (41) are high THC flowers. There are 9 identified balanced flower products, and 15 high cannabidiol (CBD) and CBD-dominant flower products available to patients.
From the 68 registered medical flowers on the Czech market, Aurora holds the most products available to patients. Most of these stem from Canada. The majority of products available are imported from Canada, Denmark, Portugal and Lesotho into Germany and then re-exported to the Czech Republic. However, there has been an increase in products cultivated in the Czech Republic as domestic cultivators and European Union Good Manufacturing Practice (EU-GMP) producers, including Lagom Pharmatech, SensiQure, Zenplanto, and Motagon, have come online and expanded their product portfolios.
🇨🇿 Imports & Exports
The Czech Republic exported medical cannabis for the first time into Germany in 2024, following the first domestic cultivators coming online and beginning to export into Germany. Companies including SensiQure (through Phytohemp s.r.o and Nimbus Health) and Lagom Pharmatech (with Czech Medical Herbs under the MeCann brand and Drapalin Pharmaceuticals) were among the first in the country to export to the German market. In total, the country exported over 1,300 kilograms of medical cannabis into Germany in 2024.
