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Cannabis Europa 2026 is returning to The Barbican in London on May 26 and 27, 2026, bringing together over 1,500 industry leaders, policymakers, and investors. This is the first major gathering since an Executive Order was signed in the United States to reclassify cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III.
More than 1,500 senior delegates to convene at The Barbican on 26 and 27 May 2026 to discuss cannabis’s future.
In April 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed an Executive Order to reclassify cannabis in the United States from Schedule I to Schedule III. By moving cannabis to Schedule III, US federal policy now formally recognises cannabis’s medical benefits for the first time.
This historic development could turbocharge the industry which, in Europe alone, is already worth more than US$1.8 billion and growing fast, according to leading cannabis data and intelligence firm, Prohibition Partners.
Expectations for the Schedule III Future
The excitement is palpable and European valuations are already reflecting the change, with institutional capital returning to the sector. Moreover, with Schedule III expected to rewrite the US tax picture, further cross-border deal activity is expected as United States companies have more capital to deploy.
Europe's import-led market is under pressure to scale reliable, EU-GMP-grade supply. North American producers with the right credentials, and ability to move at the pace European buyers expect, are well placed to satisfy this demand. Prohibition Partners forecasts that more than 1.5 million patients across Europe will be prescribed medical cannabis by 2029.
Cannabis Europa London 2026 is the first chance for industry stakeholders to examine how the sector will leverage United States rescheduling, arguably the biggest shift in cannabis policy in half a century.
Hosted by Prohibition Partners, it brings together more than 70 speakers and over 1,500 senior delegates from upwards of 40 countries to debate the next phase of the market.
The two-day programme includes several discussions on rescheduling and other important topics, including:
• 'The View from the White House: Rescheduling in the US', with Saphira Galoob of the US Cannabis Roundtable and Bryan Lanza, formerly of the Trump transition team, asks what changes with rescheduling, what stays the same and what continued uncertainty means for international stakeholders watching from abroad.
• 'Schedule III and Beyond: What a Maturing United States Framework Means for Europe', led by David Ruskin of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, will examine the rescheduling process from a European vantage point and asks what genuine regulatory convergence (or divergence) means for businesses operating across borders.
A dedicated session on United Nation drug policy and international law will examine whether the incremental progress of recent years is sufficient or whether genuine global patient access demands a more ambitious rethink of cannabis in international law.
The cannabis conference landscape has matured significantly since 2018. Events now serve distinct audiences with distinct value propositions, and selecting the right events is itself a strategic decision.
This is the structural case for event attendance in a sector like European cannabis. It is not sentiment or networking for its own sake; it is access to a class of decision-relevant information that is not available through other channels.
The 2026 landscape
The European cannabis sector in 2026 is navigating a period of simultaneous regulatory acceleration across multiple jurisdictions. Germany's Cannabis Act is being implemented and stress-tested. Switzerland's adult-use pilots are generating the first robust European evidence on regulated markets. France's permanent medical programme is scaling. The UK's private CBMP market is growing while NHS access remains constrained. Czech adult-use reform is moving through implementation. Every one of these developments carries direct commercial consequences — for supply chains, for investment valuations, for licensing strategies, for patient access.
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