RE:RE:Update on the cannabis vault in Germany
The hall is the size of a soccer field and is poorly lit. Somewhere lost, four construction workers are sitting in red gear. The coffee break is over and then work starts again: Clean the manholes from the leaked concrete. It's not complicated, says Andreas. "So not for us." - "But have you ever built a cannabis production facility?" - "Nah!" What has been emerging here in an industrial area near Neumnster for just under a year is new territory for everyone. Because there has never been a commercial cultivation site for medicinally used cannabis in Germany. At least not an official one. The building complex consists of several huge halls on two floors. The 12,000 square meter shell is almost finished. From the outside, it looks like a normal industrial building. Thorsten Kolisch says that this is definitely wanted. "Largest safe in Germany" "We are building Germany's largest safe here, as far as we know, if not the world." The area is already largely monitored by cameras, and there will be no blind spots inside the building thanks to the surveillance. The walls are made of 24 centimeters thick reinforced concrete. The reason is actually that we work with narcotics. So, medical cannabis is classified as an anesthetic, it's like opiates. It cannot be so easily accessible. " Thorsten Kolisch is General Manager at Aphria. The company with its Canadian parent company was one of three companies that was awarded the contract to grow cannabis for therapeutic purposes on behalf of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices in Germany. Patients suffering from severe pain should benefit from this. For example in Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis. But cannabis can also help reduce appetite in cancer patients. In January 2017, the German Bundestag cleared the way for this. Ingrid Fischbach, then State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, said at the law passing: We ensure that seriously ill people receive the best care and that this therapeutic option is also offered to them as part of medical treatment. You can get cannabis prescribed if it is medically indicated and it helps them. And that, ladies and gentlemen, should also be the purpose of this law. " Author: However, it still takes a lot of imagination to imagine that in Neumnster. The hall, in which the cannabis plants should grow from next autumn, looks more like a gloomy underground car park. The shell will change, says Thorsten Kolisch. Recipe for success for a good harvest "This is where walls come in, here there will be a lighting concept, it will be very white, very sterile, it will look more like a hospital, like a pharmaceutical company, which we are, after all. Architecturally, we won't win a beauty award here. The new building must be burglar-proof - and ensure good growing conditions for the cannabis flowers: The plants need constant temperatures of around 22 degrees, a humidity of 55 percent and 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. "Each individual chamber is self-contained, each chamber has its own, self-sufficient ventilation, heating and cooling system." Three different types of cannabis are said to grow in Neumnster. They differ in the different proportion of the active substances tetrahydrocannabinol, short THC and cannabidiol, CBD. THC can cause intoxication when misused, CBD has an anti-inflammatory effect, says Kolisch. Here in Neumnster it is important not to mix all three types of plants. You can harvest four times a year. A dozen specially trained gardeners are to be hired for this. During work, they have to wear special overalls and go through air showers, because the entry of pollutants must be prevented. "The plants are on the tables, they are large flowers that are then separated from the styles and stored in so-called special containers, which are then handed over to the next step in this course ..." On the day of harvest, the flowers have to be processed directly on site. Aphria is initially allowed to produce one ton of flowers a year here, just under 1.5 tons the other two companies, which were also awarded the contract by the federal authorities. Cannabis imports will continue to be necessary in the future Thorsten Kolisch anticipates that there are several million patients in Germany for whom there is a medical need for cannabis. This was shown not least by the experience in Canada, where the plant has long been legally produced as medicine. However, more scientific studies are needed to support the experience. The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices says on request that cannabis flowers will continue to be imported in the future. Production in Germany cannot replace local needs, but only supplement them. At the end of the tour, Thorsten Kolisch proudly shows the safe in the safe - two large rooms in the hall, in which the flowers are later stored. And they could quickly be worth a million. Nobody will be able to break into the building here, the 50-year-old emphasizes on this day like a mantra. And instead of tapping on wood, he knocks again on one of the 24 centimeter thick outer walls. If I had about two hours with heavy equipment, I would actually be able to get a hole through here after two hours. This hole would actually only have a diameter of 20 cm, 30 cm. It would take me half a day to get through to get in here. The police, on the other hand, are said to be there in ten minutes when an alarm is triggered.