The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that Germany intends to legalize cannabis next year. The Globe's Irene Galia and Claudia Scholz write that Canadian weed companies are positioning themselves to capitalize on the new opportunity. Several barriers, however, stand in their way: Legislation could ban Germany from importing Canadian-grown cannabis, fundraising remains a challenge for Canadian producers and legalization could still be years away. Cannaccord analyst Matt Bottomley says, "The prospect is real, but it always takes longer than you think." He adds, "I don't think one country legalizing is going to solve all of the Canadian companies' problems." Canada is already Germany's top supplier of medical weed, and several Canadian companies have started building facilities and distribution lines abroad in anticipation of legalization. The main hurdle is that Germany is bound by the 1961 United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which prohibits the import and export of cannabis for recreational consumption.