Berlin, 06/18/2024 | The “Mary Jane” hemp trade fair in Berlin took place for the first time at the Messe Berlin exhibition centre from Friday to Sunday. The organisers reported over 42,000 visitors for the weekend. This means that Mary Jane has grown to become the largest hemp fair in the world and it is already becoming apparent that it will be even bigger next year. 

The German Cannabis Business Association e.V. organised a specialist conference for the first time. The conference, which lasted around 15 hours, focussed on current political and economic discussions relating to all areas of use (medicinal cannabis, recreational products and industrial hemp), and the framework conditions for the upcoming cultivation associations (“cannabis clubs”) were also discussed. The drug and cannabis policy spokespersons Carmen Wegge (SPD, for the Interior and Legal Affairs Committee) and Kirsten Kappert-Gonther (Greens, acting chairwoman), Kristine Lütke (FDP) and Ates Gürpinar (Left Party) from the Health Committee took part from the Bundestag. Karl Bär (Greens) from the Committee on Food and Agriculture also spoke on the topic of industrial hemp. Moreover, Experts from the German, European and international cannabis industry took part. The full programme can be found here. All presentations will be published on the BvCW YouTube channel next week. 

The BvCW recently founded its own organisational unit, the “Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Cannabis Anbauvereinigungen”, or BCAv for short, in order to professionally represent the interests of cultivation clubs, promote exchange between cultivation associations and work towards the establishment and certification of new standards. BvCW and BCAv were represented with a joint stand on site and in the programme. 

Dirk Heitepriem, President of the BvCW, commented: “With our first specialist conference, we have set a new milestone for our association. We will soon be making the content available online free of charge, thus creating tangible added value for everyone. Irrespective of this, individual exhibitors at the trade fair attracted negative attention. Instead of these exhibitors, we would welcome more educational and preventative offers at the trade fair in future.”