​The wholesale price in Europe for high quality cannabis (24% THC or more) ranges from a little less than $2,000 per pound up to two and three  times that amount. In the Republic of Ireland, Norway, and Greece, wholesale prices are close to $5,000 per pound. In Germany, which legalized the recreational use of cannabis on a limited basis on April 1, 2024, the current retail price for cannabis imported from North Macedonia with 24% THC is 16,66 Euros per gram, which equates to $7,556 per pound. The wholesale price, which is about 50% of retail, works out to $3,778 per pound.

Gold Leaf will produce cannabis with 27.4% THC (see the Laboratory Test Results from its pilot plant cuttings).

The project principal is moving forward with becoming a licensed distributor in Germany so that Gold Leaf Europe can capture the entire wholesale price rather than just 50% of the wholesale price. Its operating costs also are extremely low, dropping to less than 10% of net revenues in its second full year of operation (Year 3), even if it captures only 50% of the wholesale price in the markets into which its products are sold (see the project's Financial Highlights and the Section 6 Financials in its Project Plan).

Twenty European countries have legalized the use of medicinal cannabis. Pilot programs in Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Czechoslovakia allow the use of recreational cannabis from selected points of sale. Seven countries -- Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, and Estonia -- have decimalized the possession of small amounts of cannabis for "personal use." 

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Three countries have legalized the recreational use of cannabis: Germany, Malta, and Luxembourg (the country of Georgia also has legalized recreational cannabis use, but it is not a part of the EU). Several other countries, including the UK, France, and Spain are considering the legalization of recreational cannabis.

Demand for both medicinal and recreational cannabis in Europe has been increasingly dramatically and is poised to expand even more within the next few years, with a projected Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of between 19.35% and 33.6% through 2032.