Constantin von der Groeben

After studying law, Dr. Constantin von der Groeben worked as a lawyer in Berlin and New York, and then as an officer at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. When the “Cannabis as Medicine Act” was passed in 2017, the native of Bonn saw the opportunity to help shape a unique development in Germany from the very beginning. Together with his study friends Dr. Cornelius Maurer (economist) and Dr. Adrian Fischer (physician) he decided to found DEMECAN. Today, DEMECAN operates as the only independent German producer of medical cannabis on behalf of the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).

The fact that legalization, which first took place in medicine, is now imminent in the consumer segment with „the traffic light coalition“, confirms his decision to build the largest European cannabis production facility. As one of the managing directors, Dr. Constantin von der Groeben is responsible for the legal department as well as regulatory affairs, strategic projects, communications and human resources.

With DEMECAN, Von der Groeben is pursuing the goal of guaranteeing patients in Germany access to medical cannabis of the highest pharmaceutical quality “Made in Germany”. For the legal expert, it was clear from the beginning that despite the written law, it remains a challenge for patients to obtain this drug, which is still fraught with prejudice and hardly available in Germany. Since fall 2021, the first cannabis plants have been cultivated in specially designed and secured rooms for narcotics in Ebersbach near Dresden in Saxony, and the first deliveries to Germany’s pharmacies will take place in early 2022.

But the healthcare market has long since ceased to be the sole focus for DEMECAN. The company now wants to use its expertise in cannabis production at the pharmaceutical and thus the very highest level to produce for the consumer market. The company could then grow from the current 70 to up to 250 employees and, as a future-proof employer in a structurally weak region, make an important contribution to economic strength.