- Cannabis that is eaten takes effect late and lasts a long time. Anyone who takes more because nothing is happening yet risks an overdose.
- Edibles are especially dangerous for children: they mistake them for sweets, and severe poisoning is possible.
- Cultivation associations may only pass on flowers and hashish in pure form. Edibles remain banned.
What edibles are
Edibles are foods containing THC, such as cakes, biscuits, gummy sweets or tea. The Federal Ministry of Health gives THC gummy bears and biscuits as examples, and the BIÖG speaks of cannabis that is eaten or drunk.
Why they are particularly risky
When cannabis is eaten or drunk, the effect sets in slowly and with a delay, according to the BIÖG. According to ToxInfo, in adults it only peaks after one and a half to three hours and lasts six to eight hours.
This leads to the most common trap: because nothing happens at first, people take more. The BIÖG warns that taking too much can lead to overdoses and considerable side effects, because the dose is hard to judge. On top of that, you cannot tell how much active ingredient a product contains by looking at it. For black-market products, the BIÖG says, the active ingredient content and composition are usually unknown.
What can happen in an overdose and what helps is covered in the module When it gets too much.
Danger for children
Edibles look like ordinary sweets. The BIÖG writes that children in particular are at acute risk of poisoning if they eat cannabis flowers or edibles. According to ToxInfo, the effect in children usually sets in within two hours and in children under six often lasts longer than eight hours. Even small amounts can cause moderate or severe poisoning in them; severe cases with coma and breathing problems are possible.
Canada shows what this means. After edibles were legalised there, around nine times as many young children per month were taken to emergency departments in the province of Ontario with cannabis poisoning as before legalisation. 39% of them had to be admitted to hospital. Their average age was three years and nine months.
Edibles therefore need to be locked away, out of children’s reach. How to manage that at home is explained in Home and children.
Why edibles are banned in Germany
The Consumer Cannabis Act only allows cultivation associations to pass on cannabis in pure form, as marijuana or hashish (§ 19 para. 1 KCanG). They may not pass on cannabis that has been mixed or combined with food (§ 21 para. 1 KCanG).
The explanatory memorandum to the bill names edibles explicitly: they may not be passed on, so that other forms of cannabis do not create an incentive to consume. According to the memorandum, the restricted range is necessary above all to protect the health of children and young people.
The law also prohibits manufacturing cannabis and extracting cannabinoids from the plant (§ 2 para. 1 no. 3 and para. 2 KCanG). Both are criminal offences (§ 34 para. 1 nos. 3 and 13 KCanG). The Federal Ministry of Health sums it up: so-called edibles, such as THC gummy bears and biscuits, remain banned.
We do not give any information on how to make or dose edibles.
In an emergency
If a child has eaten something that might contain cannabis, call the poison control centre for North Rhine-Westphalia on 0228 19240. If the child is unconscious, struggling to breathe or having a seizure, call 112 immediately.
Sources
- BIÖG (2025): information on cannabis, information sheet for members of cultivation associations
- ToxInfo (Björn Steiger Foundation): cannabis, as of 27 August 2026
- ICES: Cannabis poisoning in young children increased nine times after legalization (Myran et al., JAMA Network Open 2022)
- Consumer Cannabis Act (KCanG), §§ 2, 19, 21, 34 (2) (3) (4)
- German Bundestag, printed paper 20/8704, draft act on the controlled handling of cannabis, explanatory memorandum on § 18 para. 4 and § 21 para. 1, pp. 115 and 117
- Federal Ministry of Health: FAQ on the Cannabis Act
- Informationszentrale gegen Vergiftungen Bonn (poison control centre for North Rhine-Westphalia)