Cloned cannabis indica marijuana cuttings rooted in clear plastic cups of soil alongside others, as part of an indoor grow for medicinal use. All were taken from the same mother plant.
getty
German courts are clarifying a gray area left by the cannabis reform that entered into effect in 2024, which legalized personal use, cultivation, and associations, but left questions over the legal status of cannabis cuttings.
A cannabis cutting, or clone, is a small piece cut from a mature cannabis plant. When this piece is cut off, it is rooted so it can grow into a new plant that is genetically identical to the original.
Although the Cannabis Act (CanG), the cannabis law that partially legalized recreational cannabis in Germany, defines cannabis cutting as propagation material, it left open an important question: When does a cannabis cutting stop being exempt propagation material and become a cannabis plant under the law?
The distinction matters because once a cutting is legally classified as cannabis, commercial retailers can no longer rely on the exemption that allows propagation material to be sold.
The Administrative Court of Cologne had to weigh in to answer the question.
Last week, the court rejected a cannabis retailer’s request for interim relief against an order banning the commercial sale of cuttings. The court found that the retailer’s plants, which had already been placed in growing systems, qualified as cannabis under the cannabis law, meaning they cannot be commercially sold.
The court’s explanation centers on defining the legal threshold between “cutting” and “plant” status.
A cannabis cutting is only exempt as propagation material at a very early stage. Once it has been planted in soil or another growing medium like a hydroponic system and is able to continue growing, it is no longer just a cutting under the law but a cannabis plant.
The ruling also confirmed that the exemption for propagation material was not intended to create a broad commercial market, but it was supposed to be limited to private cultivation or within the framework of cultivation associations.
The court, therefore, rejected the retailer’s arguments that the restriction violated professional freedom and ruled in favor of immediate enforcement of the ban.
Cannabis Cuttings And Legal Interpretation
The decision follows a similar ruling by the same court in November 2025 involving another cannabis retailer. In that case, the court also rejected a request to suspend a ban on selling cannabis plants marketed as “cuttings.” It said that the absence of flowers or fruits alone does not mean a plant remains exempt from propagation material. A rooted plant placed in a substrate and cultivated can fall under the definition of cannabis regulated by the country’s cannabis law.
These rulings are set to create a clearer framework for businesses and growers. Cannabis seeds and early-stage cuttings should be treated differently from established cuttings. Therefore, companies selling cuttings may start to review their operations to comply with the court’s interpretation.
This is also important from the consumer side, as cannabis appears to be interested in growing cuttings. In 2024, the German Cannabis Business Association, as reported by International Cannabis Business Conferences, polled whether commercial trade in cannabis cuttings should be legal for adults over 18, alongside distribution through cultivation associations. 88% of respondents said yes. A YouGov poll published in the same year also found that 7% of Germans had already purchased cannabis seeds or cuttings since legalization, while another 11% planned to do so in the future.
While these curt rulings do not eliminate all legal questions surrounding Germany’s cannabis market, they signal that courts are taking a narrow view of exemptions for cannabis cuttings and are unlikely to treat commercially sold, ready-to-grow plants as outside the country’s cannabis regulations.
