## The short answer
A prescription for medical cannabis is valid for as long as the doctor states on the prescription. If this information is missing, it is valid for three months. You can only redeem it at a pharmacy, and as a rule only once: a follow-up prescription is needed for every further quantity, unless the prescription is expressly marked for repeated dispensing. You can collect the medicine, have it brought by the pharmacy's courier service or, if the pharmacy holds a mail-order licence, have it shipped to you. The pharmacy may not dispense a preparation other than the one prescribed on its own initiative.
How long is a cannabis prescription valid?
Since 1 April 2024, prescribing has been governed by the Medical Cannabis Act (Medizinal-Cannabisgesetz, MedCanG). For the form of the prescription, it expressly refers to the Medicinal Products Prescription Ordinance (Arzneimittelverschreibungsverordnung, AMVV): “§§ 2 and 4 of the Arzneimittelverschreibungsverordnung apply accordingly.”¹ The yellow narcotics prescription with its short redemption period has therefore been abolished.
Under § 2 of the Medicinal Products Prescription Ordinance, the period of validity is one of the mandatory details on a prescription. For cases where it is missing, para. 5 provides: “If the period of validity is not stated, the prescription is valid for three months.”² The statement “a private prescription is valid for three months” is therefore only true for prescriptions that do not state their own period. If your prescription states a shorter period, that period applies. The period is usually counted from the date of issue, which must appear on the prescription; for electronic prescriptions, this is the date of the qualified electronic signature.²
For prescriptions billed to statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, GKV), a shorter redemption period also applies: according to gematik, e-prescriptions (E-Rezepte) are valid for 92 days but can only be redeemed at the expense of the health insurance fund for 28 days.³ This article mainly deals with private prescriptions (Privatrezepte), where you pay for the medicine yourself. What this involves is explained in the cost guide.
In practice, this means: redeem a prescription as soon as possible. The pharmacy may no longer fill an expired prescription, and the prescribed quantity is tailored to a specific period and dosage.
Paper prescription or electronic prescription
A prescription can be issued on paper with a handwritten signature or in electronic form with a qualified electronic signature; both are legally equivalent.² According to gematik, the e-prescription of the telematics infrastructure, which you redeem with your health insurance card, an app or a printout with a QR code, is only available to privately insured patients once their insurer issues a digital identity.³ For online prescriptions, the electronically signed prescription is therefore often transmitted directly to the pharmacy you specified in your request.
For a paper prescription you need the original; a copy or a photo is not sufficient.
Free choice of pharmacy: who decides on the pharmacy?
The choice of pharmacy is yours. The Pharmacy Act (Apothekengesetz, ApoG) prohibits pharmacies from making arrangements with doctors or other persons on the allocation of prescriptions, expressly including electronic prescriptions. Third parties are also prohibited from collecting, brokering or forwarding prescriptions in return for benefits.⁴
In principle, any community pharmacy in Germany can fill a cannabis prescription, because cannabis for medical purposes may only be dispensed to patients “in the course of operating a pharmacy upon presentation of the prescription”.¹ However, not every pharmacy keeps cannabis in stock; many only order it once the prescription has arrived. The pharmacy must fill a prescription “within a time appropriate to the prescription”, but may refuse to dispense if there is a justified suspicion of misuse.⁵
When you submit an online request via Medicanova, you specify the pharmacy in the questionnaire; an issued prescription is sent electronically to exactly that pharmacy. How to find a suitable pharmacy is explained in the article Choosing a pharmacy: shipping, courier service or collection?; addresses and service details by location can be found in the pharmacy directory.
Collection, courier service or shipping
Collection at the pharmacy
Prescription-only medicines may in principle only be handed over on the pharmacy premises and only by pharmaceutical staff.⁵ Call before you set off and ask whether the preparation is ready; whether you can collect it on the same day depends on stock. Many pharmacies ask for ID at collection to make sure the medicine reaches the person for whom it was prescribed. We have not found an express statutory obligation for patients to show ID; take an identity document with you anyway. Whether another person may collect it with a power of attorney is decided by the pharmacy.
Courier service
Delivery by the pharmacy's own couriers (Botendienst) is permitted without a mail-order licence. The medicine is packed separately for each recipient and labelled with name and address. If the prescription was not at the pharmacy before delivery or no consultation has yet taken place, pharmaceutical staff must deliver it; the consultation can then also take place by telephone.⁵ The courier service is limited to the area around the pharmacy.
Shipping to your home
Only a pharmacy with a mail-order licence (Versandhandelserlaubnis) under § 11a of the Pharmacy Act may send medicines by parcel. Among other things, it must ensure that the medicine is dispatched within two working days of receipt of the order, provided it is available, that a free second delivery attempt is made and that the consignment can be tracked.⁶ When shipping, the pharmacy must also offer you a telephone consultation at no extra cost.⁵ Express delivery is an additional service offered by individual pharmacies, not a legal category.
Planned change in the law
In October 2025, the Federal Government adopted a draft amending the Medical Cannabis Act. It provides that an initial prescription of cannabis flower may only be issued after personal contact in the practice or during a home visit, and that the shipping of cannabis flower will be prohibited; pharmacies' courier services are to remain unaffected.⁷ The Bundestag debated the draft at first reading in December 2025, and the Health Committee heard experts in January 2026.⁸ According to the sources available to us, as of 14 September 2026 the amendment has not been passed and is not in force. What ultimately applies may still change during the parliamentary procedure.
What happens if the preparation is not in stock?
The medicines dispensed must correspond to the prescription.⁵ The substitution rules of the Pharmacy Operations Ordinance (Apothekenbetriebsordnung, ApBetrO) relate to identical medicines with the same active substance. Cannabis flower and most extracts, by contrast, are dispensed as compounded preparations (Rezepturarzneimittel), and strains differ in active substance content and other constituents. According to the specialist press, substitution is therefore not permitted: if the prescribed flower or extract is not available, the doctor must issue a new prescription.⁹
The pharmacy then usually has two options: it reorders the prescribed preparation, which can take a few days, or it contacts you and the prescribing practice so that a doctor can decide on an alternative. There is no switching to a different strain on a simple say-so. If a prescription contains an obvious error or there are other concerns, the pharmacy may only dispense once the uncertainty has been resolved.⁵
Redeeming once, partial dispensing and repeat dispensing
As a rule, a prescription is filled once. When dispensing, the pharmacy records, among other things, its name, the date of dispensing and the price on the prescription, or adds this information to the electronic prescription.⁵ Repeated dispensing on the same prescription is only permitted if the doctor orders it: the prescription must then be marked as a prescription for repeated dispensing and allows at most three further dispensings of the same pack size after the first.¹⁰ Through the reference in the Medical Cannabis Act, this rule also applies to cannabis.¹ In practice, this is uncommon for cannabis.
On partial dispensing, i.e. dispensing only part of the prescribed quantity and the rest at a later date on the same prescription, we have not found any express rule for private prescriptions. Whether and how a pharmacy handles this is something you should clarify with it in advance. If you know that you do not need, or do not want to pay for, the whole quantity at once, the more reliable route is to talk to the doctor about a smaller prescribed quantity. Typical quantities are explained in the article How many grams of cannabis can a doctor prescribe?
Follow-up prescription: when and how?
Once the prescription has been redeemed, you need a new one for the next quantity. The doctor decides on a follow-up prescription based on the course of treatment: effect, tolerability, actual consumption and possible dose adjustments. There is no entitlement to a particular quantity or a particular preparation.
Plan your follow-up prescription in good time. Allow for the fact that the medical review, transmission to the pharmacy and, where applicable, ordering or shipping each take time. How an online request works is described in the article on the online request process; which doctors are allowed to prescribe in principle is explained in the article Which doctor prescribes cannabis? If you want to travel with your prescribed cannabis, you will find the rules in the article Travelling with a cannabis prescription.
Checklist before redeeming
- Check validity: is a period stated on the prescription? If not, it is valid for three months from issue.
- Call the pharmacy: is the prescribed preparation in stock or does it need to be ordered?
- Clarify the delivery route: collection, courier service or shipping, and what does delivery cost?
- Have documents ready: the original for a paper prescription, an identity document for collection.
- Not available? Do not accept a substitute strain without a doctor's decision.
- Plan the follow-up prescription: request it in good time before your supply runs out.
Frequently asked questions
Can I redeem my cannabis prescription at any pharmacy?
In principle yes: any community pharmacy may fill a valid prescription, and the choice of pharmacy is yours. However, many pharmacies do not keep cannabis in stock. If an electronic prescription has already been transmitted to a particular pharmacy, it is held there. You will find more answers in the FAQ.
How long is a private cannabis prescription valid?
For as long as stated on the prescription. If this information is missing, it is valid for three months under § 2 para. 5 of the Medicinal Products Prescription Ordinance.²
Can I redeem the prescription more than once?
No, unless the doctor has expressly marked it for repeated dispensing; in that case, at most three further dispensings are possible.¹⁰ Otherwise, a follow-up prescription is needed for each new quantity.
Can cannabis be sent to my home?
Currently yes, if the pharmacy holds a mail-order licence, or alternatively by courier service in the area around the pharmacy.⁵ ⁶ A planned shipping ban for cannabis flower has not been passed as of 14 September 2026.⁸
Can I still collect cannabis today?
Only if the pharmacy has the prescribed preparation in stock and has the prescription. Call before you set off.
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This article is for general information and does not replace legal, pharmaceutical or medical advice. Whether a preparation is prescribed, and which one, is decided solely by the treating doctor. Legal status: 14 September 2026.
Sources
- Medizinal-Cannabisgesetz (MedCanG), § 3 – Verschreibung und Abgabe [prescribing and dispensing]: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/medcang/__3.html
- Arzneimittelverschreibungsverordnung (AMVV), § 2 – Angaben auf der Verschreibung [information required on the prescription], para. 1 nos. 2, 8, 10 and para. 5: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/amvv/__2.html
- gematik, FAQ zum E-Rezept (privately insured patients, ways to redeem, validity): https://www.gematik.de/anwendungen/e-rezept/faq-e-rezept
- Apothekengesetz (ApoG), § 11 paras. 1 and 1a: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/apog/__11.html
- Apothekenbetriebsordnung (ApBetrO), § 17 – Erwerb und Abgabe von Arzneimitteln [acquisition and dispensing of medicines], paras. 1a, 2, 2a, 4, 5, 6 and 8: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/apobetro_1987/__17.html
- Apothekengesetz (ApoG), § 11a – Versandhandelserlaubnis [mail-order licence]: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/apog/__11a.html
- Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, Fragen und Antworten zur Änderung des Medizinal-Cannabisgesetzes [questions and answers on the amendment of the Medical Cannabis Act]: https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/service/gesetze-und-verordnungen/guv-21-lp/aend-medcang/faq-medcang
- Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, Gesetz zur Änderung des Medizinal-Cannabisgesetzes (status of the procedure): https://www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de/service/gesetze-und-verordnungen/detail/aenderung-medizinal-cannabisgesetzes; Deutscher Bundestag, hearing in the Health Committee on 14 January 2026: https://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2026/kw03-pa-gesundheit-1135486
- APOTHEKE ADHOC, „Cannabis-Extrakte und -Blüten: Ein Austausch ist nicht erlaubt!“ [cannabis extracts and flower: substitution is not permitted], 16 May 2022: https://www.apotheke-adhoc.de/rubriken/detail/medizinisches-cannabis/cannabis-extrakte-und-blueten-ein-austausch-ist-nicht-erlaubt/
- Arzneimittelverschreibungsverordnung (AMVV), § 4 para. 3 – repeated dispensing: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/amvv/__4.html