🇬🇷 Greece Overview
Although Greece was one of the first countries to legalise medical cannabis in Europe, it took almost seven years for patients to receive medical cannabis treatment. The prolonged delay was due to political changes and a long process in establishing regulatory frameworks for medical cannabis prescription and dispensation, cultivation and production, and the product approval process.
Today, the market is driven by Tikun Olam, which has established itself as the first medical cannabis producer in Greece and has the only products approved on the market. A significant growth driver is the establishment of telemedicine platforms such as Relief Time Clinic, which has eased patient access.
Medical cannabis imports remain banned in Greece, however, Tikun Olam exported its first medical cannabis products to Switzerland in November 2024, with the company aiming to supply other markets. In Q1 2025, Greece exported 49 kilograms of medical cannabis to Germany. Additionally, Greece is ramping up its domestic production as more companies are receiving licences to operate, with Curity Pharma receiving its operational cultivation licence in March 2025.
🇬🇷 Regulations
Greece legalised medical cannabis in 2017, rescheduling the substance from a Schedule A to D. The rescheduling was driven by public outcry, led by MAMAKA, a patient advocacy group, that pushed the prime minister at the time to legalise medical cannabis.
The licensing for medical cannabis cultivation and processing was set by several laws, decrees, and amendments throughout 2018-2023. Law 4523/2018 was the first to legalise medical cannabis cultivation. In 2021, article 71 of Νo. 4864/2021(Government Gazette A’237) was published and added to Law 4139/2013 which banned medical imports.
Within these provisions, companies are obliged to follow strict quality, safety and standard procedures and are required to hold licences for obtaining approval of the establishment and/or operational licence, which is granted by the Ministers of Development & Investment, Health, Rural Development and Food.
Compared to other medical cannabis markets in Europe, medical cannabis products (flowers and extracts) in Greece are classified as finished pharmaceutical products and must obtain a marketing authorisation from the Greek National Organisation for Medicines (EOF), similar to other pharmaceuticals. This is a rigorous process as companies must provide product development data, analytical methods, process validation, stability risk testing and management plans.
🇬🇷 Patient Access
Who Can Prescribe?
Only specialist doctors can start prescribing medical cannabis in Greece. These include specialists in the fields of:
- Anaesthesiology
- Neurology
- Pathologist-Oncologist
- Pathologist-Infectiology
- Rheumatology
Repeat prescriptions may be carried out by a pathologist or general practitioner as long as there is monitoring by a specialist and a check-up every six months.
What are the treatable pathologies?
The pathologies for which medical cannabis has been approved as an appropriate treatment in Greece are:
- Prevention and treatment of severe nausea or vomiting caused by chemotherapy, radiotherapy and combination therapy for HIV or hepatitis C.
- Treatment of chronic pain related to cancer or diseases of the central or peripheral nervous system, such as neuropathic pain caused by nerve damage, ‘phantom limb’, trigeminal neuralgia, and postherpetic neuralgia.
- Treating spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injuries.
- As an orexigenic in the palliative care of patients undergoing treatments for cancer or acquired immunodeficiency (AIDS).
- Rheumatology
A prescription for medical cannabis may only be considered if the use of already approved and conventional drugs are infeasible, intolerable, or ineffective for the patient.
Reimbursement
Currently, there is no reimbursement for medical cannabis in Greece; patients have to pay for their treatment out-of-pocket.
🇬🇷 Products & Prices
There are currently six medical cannabis flower strains authorised on the market, all produced by Tikun Olam. The flowers are available in five-gram and ten-gram packages. The price per gram ranges from €11.4 to €15.1.
Currently, these are the only flower products on the market; however, in 2025, Tikun Olam launched two extract products extracted from its Erez strain, and they expect to launch capsules soon.
Tikun Olam’s Greek operations consist of a 56,000 square metre operational facility in Examilia. The facility holds a 21,000 square metre greenhouse cultivation unit, a 1,000 square metre primary processing unit and a 1,500 square metre product production & packaging unit.
Domestic production in Greece is planned to increase as more companies receive operational licences, with Curity Pharma receiving an operational licence in March 2025 from the relevant regulatory authorities of the Ministries of Development, Health and Rural Development. Curity Pharma’s 67,000 square metre facility in Larissa Industrial Park includes a 5,000 square metre hybrid greenhouse and a 1,800 square metre production facility.