Greece Shuts the Door on Cannabis Flower in Retail

ATHENS – Greece’s medicines regulator has ordered an immediate, nationwide halt to the retail sale of dried Cannabis flower, pulling a product that had built a foothold in c-stores, vending machines, and specialized shops across the country.

The National Organization for Medicines (EOF) announced the ban, citing the newly enacted Law 5302/2026, specifically Articles 43(2) and 46, which took effect immediately upon publication. The prohibition covers all dried flower derived from Cannabis sativa L. varieties [raw or processed, high-THC or low-THC, CBD-rich or otherwise] and extends to physical stores, online platforms, and any other direct-to-consumer channel operating on Greek territory.

Businesses were directed to stop sales without delay. EOF officials confirmed that joint inspection teams, including police authorities, would conduct on-site compliance checks and chemical testing of products already circulating in the market. Penalties are steep. License violations carry fines of up to €100,000, and illegal trafficking can result in prison sentences of up to five years.

The political pressure behind the ban came from a wave of semi-synthetic cannabinoid products [substances like HHC and its chemical derivatives] that began appearing in loosely regulated retail settings. Greece had classified HHC as a narcotic in January 2024 and expanded the list of prohibited synthetic cannabinoids in 2025, but regulators found that the chemical structures of these compounds mutate faster than the law could track them.

The incident that catalyzed legislative action was the hospitalization of a student from Thessaloniki on a school trip to Ioannina after consuming semi-synthetic Cannabis products sold through retail channels. Authorities cited concerns about minors accessing these products in easily reachable retail environments, including vending machines, as a primary driver of the new law.

The ban is broad on the consumer side but leaves room for industrial activity. Wholesale handling, transport, and storage of dried Cannabis flower remain lawful as long as the destination is manufacturing: food products, cosmetics, or dietary supplements. CBD oils, topicals, and other non-flower low-THC goods retain a legal path to market. Medical Cannabis dispensed through licensed pharmacies under EOF authorization is also unaffected.

The same legislation raises the THC threshold for industrial hemp from 0.2% to 0.3%, aligning with broader EU agricultural policy. However, that adjustment does not open any consumer sales channel. The new rules explicitly strip dried hemp flower of its prior classification as a raw agricultural product, removing the legal protection that many retailers had relied upon to operate.

The bill also introduces a new licensed business category (“Cannabis Product Enterprises”) for stores authorized to sell lawful Cannabis goods and EOF-certified medical vaporization devices. Each outlet must be located at least 500 meters from schools serving students up to secondary age.

The ban did not pass without institutional pushback. Greece’s own Economic and Social Committee (OKE), a statutory advisory body, formally warned that the legislation may conflict with EU rules on the free movement of goods. A separate procedural question concerns Directive 2015/1535/EU, which requires member states to notify the European Commission before enacting technical regulations.

Greece’s retail Cannabis flower ban reflects a regulatory reality playing out across multiple EU jurisdictions: national governments are reaching for blunt tools to address the messy intersection of legal hemp and unregulated synthetic cannabinoids. The challenge, as the Greek case makes clear, is that those tools rarely land with surgical precision, and the legal and commercial fallout tends to outlast the political moment that produced them. For operators with exposure to the Greek market, the immediate priority is compliance.