Franziska Katterbach, Attorney at Law & Partner at Oppenhoff – Interview Series | Cannabis Law Report | Where to order Skittles Moonrock online

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Similar to the United States market, the implementation, regulation, and ongoing compliance of the German cannabis industry will be navigated primarily by attorneys and legal professionals. As is expected when a billion-euro industry is legalized, significant questions and uncertainties remain regarding how this new framework will align with both German national law and EU regulations.

To gain a deeper perspective on the legal complexities of this emerging sector, mycannabis.com spoke with Franziska Katterbach, Attorney at Law and Partner at Oppenhoff.

So, where did you attend both university and law school? From your experiences with American lawyers, what would you say are the largest differences between German and American law schools?

I studied law at the University of Leipzig and completed my legal traineeship at the Regional Court of Darmstadt.

One of the key differences compared to US law schools is that the German system is far less specialized. It focuses heavily on building a strong foundation in legal reasoning and system thinking, rather than practical or sector-specific training.

Interestingly, neither pharmaceutical law nor cannabis law (if that even exists) play a meaningful role in university education in Germany. As a result, expertise in highly regulated industries is typically developed in practice — through exposure to complex legal frameworks and real-world application.

What were the most useful courses that you took during your law school program? How did those courses prove to be worthwhile throughout your legal career?

Rather than individual courses, it was the overall methodological training that proved most valuable.

German legal education emphasizes structuring complex issues, understanding the hierarchy of norms, and applying abstract rules to real-life scenarios. These skills are essential when working in highly regulated industries such as Life Sciences.

In practice, the real challenge is not knowing a single law — it is understanding how multiple regulatory regimes interact and how they are applied in reality.

What caught your professional interest about the fields of Life Science and, eventually, cannabis law? Why is that field of law unique for a lawyer in Germany to practice?

What attracted me to Life Sciences is the combination of legal complexity and real-world impact.

I have been practicing law in the Life Sciences sector long before cannabis became a “hot topic”.

This background allows me to approach cannabis not as a standalone or exceptional field, but as another pharmaceutical product — albeit with certain specific regulatory particularities.

Cannabis law, in particular, is unique because it sits at the intersection of multiple legal regimes — pharmaceutical law, narcotics law, medical law, and closely intertwined European law. Importantly, there is no “cannabis law” in the sense of a single, codified body of law.

In a medical context, cannabis is regulated largely in line with other herbal prescription drugs, often dispensed as magistral preparations. This means that the legal analysis is less about a standalone framework and more about understanding how existing pharmaceutical and regulatory rules apply in a specific context.

At the same time, the regulatory regime for medical cannabis in Germany has been continuously evolving since 2017, with multiple legislative and practical changes along the way. I have had the privilege of observing and advising on these developments from the early stages — even prior to the first major legislative reform in 2017.

In 2024 the MedCanG (Medical Cannabis Act) and the KCanG (Recreational Cannabis Act) have introduced additional, specific layers of regulations to clearly distinguish between the regulatory requirements for medical cannabis and those applicable to recreational use. However, these new laws do not operate in isolation. Rather, they complement and interact with the existing legal frameworks.

This results in a legal framework in which cannabis assumes a distinct and special role, without constituting a fully autonomous or self-contained area of law. Instead, it further reinforces the complexity of an already fragmented legal landscape that must be carefully navigated in practice.

For a lawyer in Germany, this field is therefore not about applying one clear set of rules. It is about navigating a fragmented and constantly evolving legal landscape, understanding the underlying system, and translating that into workable and compliant business models.

This also means that, within our legal system, it is not sufficient to monitor legislative developments at the state, national and international, in particular European, level. It is equally important to follow administrative practice, identify emerging trends in case law, and understand where courts begin to set practical boundaries and guiding principles.

While working with internationally operating cannabis companies such as Canopy and Khiron Life Sciences Corp., what were some of your regular duties? How did you assist in the expansion of their operations into Germany?

Read the full interview

https://www.mycannabis.com/franziska-katterbach-attorney-at-law-partner-at-oppenhoff-interview-series/